A group of 21 tax officials from 18 states is urging the Department of Treasury (DOT) to disband the IRS’ new Direct File pilot program, citing potential tax filing problems they said could arise from confusion on the part of taxpayers.

Ahead of the 2023 and 2024 election cycle, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) earlier this month hosted the nation’s largest annual election security exercise in coordination with the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors. 

In 2022, state and Federal policymakers significantly accelerated their efforts to help K-12 institutions across the U.S. shore up their cybersecurity defenses, a new report by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) says.

Cybersecurity firm Emsisoft’s tally of publicly disclosed ransomware attacks in 2022 included 105 counties, 45 school districts, 44 colleges and universities, and over two dozen healthcare providers.

The Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Utilities Services (RUS) stated in a Federal Register notice that they have implemented the provisions of the 2018 Farm Bill that authorizes the agency, for the first time, to provide loans for stand-alone cybersecurity projects in rural communities.

The Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) has published its 2022 Biennial Performance Report that tracks state agencies’ technology progress in fiscal years 2021 and 2022, and set forth tech goals for the next five years.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a Nov. 16 report that Federal agencies need to up their ransomware assistance for state, local, Tribal, and territorial (SLTT) government organizations – including schools – by improving interagency collaboration, awareness, outreach, communication, and coordination with schools.

The chief information officer (CIO) for Clark County, Nev. – which houses the city of Las Vegas – aims to bring broadband to 100 percent of eligible residents and businesses through access, affordability, and adoption.

L.A. County Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Jeffery Aguilar said his office is preparing for upcoming high-profile activities – like the World Cup in 2026 and the Olympics in 2028 – by maturing its cybersecurity and building prevention techniques rather than taking the usual detection-based approach.

With the U.S. midterm elections just around the corner and security concerns running high, a new survey finds that three-quarters of local election websites are not using the .gov domain to help boost site security and engender a higher degree of user trust.