New research shows that cybercriminals are using the COVID-19 Omicron variant to target universities and are attempting to steal university login credentials.

When the pandemic hit, affordable and dependable internet became vital to keep the United States going. This sudden change highlighted the glaring disparity in internet connectivity to underserved communities. Congress attempted to remedy this issue with the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB), which offers low-income consumers a $50 discount on their internet bills.

While healthcare disparities are not new, the COVID-19 pandemic did highlight the persistent and systemic inequities with healthcare in this country, especially for indigenous communities.

As the future of education becomes increasingly digital, having a secure and reliable data platform that helps deliver better services with increased transparency is imperative for all education stakeholders. Officials from the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) and New York University (NYU) described how they leveraged dashboards and analytics to make informed decisions while improving the return to campus experience for faculty, staff, and students during a webinar hosted by Carahsoft on August 24.

The past 18 months have placed a massive burden on state and local governments (SLGs) as they have had to shift from delivering citizen services in-person to delivering services almost entirely online.

State and local governments are on the front lines of delivering economic recovery from the pandemic. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley emphasized the role technology will play in helping cities and states come back from the pandemic recession faster, stronger, and more equitably during a live webinar on June 15.

The COVID-19 pandemic allowed higher education staff members to accelerate the use of online learning and helped campus communities to see the value of technology applications in higher education, according to a new report.

The unprecedented events of 2020 caused increased public records requests for COVID-19 data and information about crisis planning and processes. The types of requests are becoming more complex for health departments, law enforcement, and public safety agencies. Additionally, the rush to remote work during the pandemic led to inaccessible, non-digitized records, increasing the time to release.

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announced the creation of two statewide dashboards that should show how the state is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and make more state-wide health equity available to residents.

New York state piloted a new vaccine passport program at a recent Brooklyn Nets Game. The vaccine passport, called the Excelsior Pass, uses a verification app to enable the verification of health credentials such as test results and vaccination records.