White House national security staff took the Biden administration’s strategic thinking on ransomware prevention to the local government mayors this week, as administration advisors continued to work through a long list of policy items aimed at curbing the attacks and making them less profitable.

Republican members of Congress have written separate letters to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Google CEO Sundar Pichai expressing concerns about the companies’ collection of data on students, among other issues.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp selected Shawnzia Thomas as the executive director of Georgia Technology Authority (GTA) and state CIO. The GTA Board of Directors recently affirmed Thomas’ selection.

Law enforcement agencies that use forensic algorithms to aid in criminal investigations face numerous challenges, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), including difficulty interpreting and communicating results, as well as addressing potential bias or misuse.

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers plans to use Federal funding to overhaul the state’s decades-old and technologically outdated unemployment insurance system.

National University, a California-based nonprofit that caters to adult learners, says that its prior learning assessment tool is “dramatically” reducing tuition costs and time to completion by automatically counting prior learning credits.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced it has launched what it is describing as the “country’s largest effort to close the homework gap,” and has opened the application window for $7.17 billion of funding through the agency’s Emergency Connectivity Fund.

In light of recent cyberattacks against Federal agencies, the Department of Defense (DoD) is increasing its requirements for private sector contractors to ensure they are adequately securing and protecting contractor and DoD data.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced an interagency agreement to coordinate the distribution of Federal broadband deployment funds.

From state and local governments to Federal agencies and the private sector, Active Directory (AD) – Microsoft’s proprietary directory service – is a key component of identity management, enabling administrators to manage permissions and access to network resources for every user across the enterprise.