Know What's Happening in GovTech
Know What's Happening in GovTech
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his cabinet approved more than $40 million in state immigration grants for local law‑enforcement agencies. The funding will finance biometric iris scanners, AI‑enabled body cameras, license‑plate readers, surveillance towers and other detention‑related equipment. Six counties submitted new grant requests while twelve amended prior proposals, with a notable $9 million allocation to Lee County after a $13.7 million cut to its AI body‑cam contract. The awards are part of a broader $250 million state program aimed at bolstering the state’s aggressive immigration enforcement strategy.
European Parliament MEP Aura Salla, a former Meta EU public‑policy director, was appointed lead legislator on the Digital Omnibus proposal. NGOs and transparency watchdogs are demanding her removal, citing a conflict of interest given her 2020‑2023 tenure at Meta. Salla,...
The EU Council, led by Denmark, has rejected mandatory scanning of private messages and added safeguards for encrypted communications in the contentious CSA Regulation. While the Council now proposes a voluntary detection framework, the European Parliament still backs limited mandatory...
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) has placed a new Communications‑Based Train Control (CBTC) system into revenue service on its Media–Sharon Hill line, the last interurban trolley network in the U.S. The upgrade, delivered by Hitachi Rail, covers 11.9 miles between...
Federal broadband grants from programs such as CAF II, RDOF, ReConnect, the Capital Projects Fund, ARPA, and NTIA face hard completion deadlines, many of which fall on December 31, 2026. The federal government has signaled no appetite for extensions, meaning...
South Africa’s 2026 budget earmarks R285.3 million to modernise the government payroll system and curb ghost‑worker fraud. An additional R98.9 million will fund a national e‑procurement platform under the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer. The Treasury has identified 4,323 high‑risk employees...
South Africa’s flagship broadband initiative, SA Connect, will complete its second phase in the 2025/26 fiscal year, according to the National Treasury’s Budget Review. Phase two delivered connectivity to 6,343 government facilities and installed 32,055 community Wi‑Fi hotspots, reaching an...
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana used the 2026 budget launch to declare data and artificial intelligence infrastructure as critical as electricity, ports and transport. He announced plans to expand data‑centre capacity, citing 55 existing facilities and R50 billion of investment expected over...
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is hiring a Director General for emerging technology and artificial intelligence with a salary up to £174,000. The role will steer the UK’s strategy, investment and regulation across AI, quantum computing, semiconductors,...
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The Operational Technology Incident (OTI) Impact Score, unveiled at the S4x26 conference, offers a Richter‑scale‑style metric for gauging OT cyber‑attack consequences. It combines severity, reach, and duration into a single figure, with assessments delivered via an online portal within 12...
I was expecting a mess at the airport with TSA but with touchless I got through in 1 minute with 3 people ahead of me. Nice job @TSA.
Romanian national Catalin Dragomir pleaded guilty to selling unauthorized access to an Oregon state government computer network and to aggravated identity theft. He provided buyers with personal data samples and sold access to multiple U.S. victims, causing at least $250,000...
Municipalities are rapidly deploying IoT and OT devices for smart‑city services, but many of these assets remain unsecured. In April 2025, hackers exploited default passwords on audio‑enabled crosswalk buttons in three California cities, using AI‑generated voices to broadcast fake messages....
More than half of national‑security agencies still move classified data by hand, a practice the CYBER360 report flags as a strategic liability. Manual transfers introduce human error, audit gaps, and exploitable seams that adversaries can weaponize. Legacy platforms, protracted procurement...
A new research paper by Jason Blazakis, funded by the EU’s Internal Security Fund and released through RUSI and Project CRAAFT, examines how large language models could be weaponised to facilitate terrorist financing. The study argues that AI‑driven content generation...
OpenAI’s latest threat report reveals a Chinese law‑enforcement unit using ChatGPT to edit internal briefings and draft a propaganda push against Japan’s prime minister. The single account uploaded dozens of operation reports, exposing a coordinated effort involving mass posting, bogus...
Nigeria’s digital strategy hinges on expanding the local .ng domain, but the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) warns that policy gaps are stalling adoption. Although the 2025 Nigeria First Policy obliges government bodies to migrate to .ng addresses and host...
Vodacom Foundation, together with the Eastern Cape Department of Education, has launched a R1.5 million School of Excellence at Lavelilanga Secondary School. The investment, delivered over the first year, funds infrastructure upgrades, digital connectivity, ICT support staff and psychosocial services. The...
The Digital Services Act’s Article 40 gives vetted researchers EU‑wide data access to study systemic risks, but its “necessary and proportionate” test may limit that access. Past denials on privacy grounds show researchers often lack prior knowledge of what data they...
A new NHS England GP contract, backed by £485 million, will guarantee same‑day appointments for urgent patients. It mandates that online consultation platforms remain available throughout core hours and redirects £292 million to recruit roughly 1,600 additional full‑time‑equivalent GPs. The contract expands...
The UK government will fund every Crown court in England and Wales to operate at maximum capacity in 2026/27, with an extra £287 million for digital upgrades and infrastructure. Total court and tribunal funding rises to £2.785 billion, up from £2.538 billion. No...
MHCLG’s Digital Planning team has overhauled its case study format to prioritize user‑focused design, guided by research on how planners consume content. The new layout features an upfront overview box, plain‑language summaries, comparative before‑and‑after metrics, and simple visual aids. A...
NHS England has signed a three‑year, £33.6 million contract with London‑based TPXimpact to deliver digital services for maternity and child vaccinations. This agreement is the third digital‑prevention deal signed in the last six months, bringing the total spend on such services...
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is hiring a senior director for its Digital and Transformation Group, offering a salary of up to £136,000. The role will steer the digital delivery of working‑age services, including Universal Credit, the jobs...
The UK National Crime Agency (NCA) warns that generative AI image tools and end‑to‑end encryption are expanding opportunities for child sexual abuse online. It urges regulators, particularly Ofcom, to wield powers under the Online Safety Act to hold tech platforms...
Manitoba's health ministry announced a provincewide rollout of the SAFE mobile app, extending its use from Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre to Brandon Regional Health Centre, St. Boniface, Victoria and upcoming sites in Thompson. The app provides emergency notifications, direct security...
Lord Chancellor David Lammy announced £4.5 million in funding for LawtechUK over the next three years, extending the programme’s total investment to £12 million since 2019. He outlined an AI‑focused vision for the courts, including a pilot AI listing assistant (J‑AI) for...
Organizations using Azure Government Cloud struggle to balance automated security assessments with the nuanced architectural requirements of regulated environments. Third‑party compliance tools can scan thousands of resources against NIST, FedRAMP, and CIS benchmarks, delivering speed and broad visibility. However, these...
The U.S. Department of Defense has warned AI firm Anthropic that it could be labeled a “supply chain risk” unless the company lifts its self‑imposed bans on autonomous weapons and surveillance use. Anthropic, which was cleared for classified work in...
The Pentagon’s Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) now targets fiscal 2028 to field the next‑generation National Background Investigation Services (NBIS) system, a project originally slated for 2019. The program’s budget has swollen to $4.6 billion through FY2031, with $2.2 billion projected...
Singapore launched the Singtel Digital InfraCo – NVIDIA Centre of Excellence for Applied AI, reinforcing the nation’s shift from building large frontier models to deploying AI that solves real‑world problems. The centre joins more than 60 AI CoEs established since the 2023...
Thailand’s Industrial Estate Authority (IEAT) and the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) have signed an MOU to accelerate AI, IoT and robotics adoption across industrial estates, turning SMEs into Smart Factories. The partnership will launch pilot projects in...
Australia's Department of Defence has added SISU Solutions to its Information Communications Technology Provider Arrangement (ICTPA) panel, making the SME one of the few approved across all service modules. SISU can now supply systems integration, application services, and ICT personnel...
The Department of Homeland Security’s plan to convert a vacant warehouse in Merrimack, N.H., into an immigration detention center has hit a roadblock due to municipal water and sewer capacity constraints. Local officials argue that the town’s utilities are already...
IonQ has bolstered its federal division by appointing three former Dell executives to senior roles, while former NGA director Robert Cardillo serves as executive chairman. Steve Harris will lead the go‑to‑market organization, Cameron Chehreh will head field engineering, and Mike...
Eric Trexler, senior VP for the public sector at Palo Alto Networks, highlighted the federal government’s massive, fragmented cyber‑attack surface and the $27 billion FY 2025 cybersecurity budget, of which roughly $1.8 billion targets identity management. He noted that while agencies have made...
Alabama has become one of only three states to roll out chip‑enabled EBT cards statewide, following a pilot in 11 counties. The new cards aim to curb SNAP fraud, which cost the state over $15 million last year, and to meet...
We need to stop using industry-friendly PR terms like “age verification” and call it what it is: Digital ID https://t.co/YbejVkq46A
A class action filed in Maine accuses the Department of Homeland Security of deploying the Mobile Fortify facial‑recognition app to photograph, scan and record protesters documenting immigration arrests, then threatening them with placement on a domestic‑terrorist watchlist. The complaint alleges systematic...
Australian government agencies are urged to upgrade cybersecurity after Cisco and the University of Canberra released the "Securing the Nation" report. The study highlights that 59% of federal agencies view legacy, end‑of‑life technology as a top security challenge and warns...
In this episode, Hitachi Vantara Federal’s Guy Garwich and Todd Hansen explain how the Virtual Storage Platform One (VSP1) unifies block, file, object, and mainframe storage into a single data plane with a unified control plane, delivering high‑performance file services,...
The article proposes that insurers share hard‑braking telematics data with transportation agencies to pinpoint dangerous road segments. A Google study of ten years of crash records found a strong correlation between aggregated hard‑braking events and actual crashes, correctly flagging hotspots...
An independent audit by the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision‑Making and Society found that nearly one‑third of federal agencies have failed to meet mandatory AI usage disclosure requirements. The probe highlights widespread non‑compliance with transparency rules...
A Salford pilot led by Collaborative Mobility UK and delivered by Cycling UK trained 41 disabled participants on shared e‑bikes and e‑scooters. The hands‑on programme boosted confidence and practical skills, with more than half of the cohort riding independently within...
Carnegie Mellon University Africa researchers introduced an ethnicity‑aware preprocessing pipeline for face presentation‑attack detection (PAD) that adapts brightness and gamma correction to different skin tones. Using local binary patterns (LBPs) and a balanced stochastic gradient descent classifier, they trained and...
CMS has issued a Request for Information to explore AI solutions that could transform Medicare’s digital and voice interactions. The agency aims to use predictive analytics, chatbots, virtual assistants, and AI‑driven call‑center tools to deliver personalized plan recommendations and 24/7...
DISA has issued a $201 million solicitation for cloud‑based internet isolation (CBII), requiring authorized Menlo Security resellers to deliver a managed service. Menlo Security supplies the underlying remote‑browser platform, while resellers will operate, integrate, and support the solution within DISA’s security...
The Association of Digital Verification Professionals (ADVP) has urged the UK government to shape its upcoming digital‑identity consultation around the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, warning that a single, government‑only wallet would lock out the private sector. ADVP argues...
The Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) lost its federal grant in September 2025 and transitioned to a dues‑paying model. Sixteen states and territories are now full members, while eight additional states have purchased services for all their agencies....
Federal agencies are accelerating cloud modernization, but must first close gaps in data readiness, cybersecurity, and legacy infrastructure. Officials from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Department of Energy, and NinjaOne discussed prerequisites for hybrid and multi‑cloud success....
