Why a State Suspended its Bitcoin Tax Payment System.

Where: Ohio

What: Ohio created a system to permit taxes to be paid by cryptocurrency

When did they suspend the bitcoin payments? less than a year after it was created

What entity suspended the system? A vote by a state panel that oversees the state’s banking and financial methods

What are the next steps? The State Attorney General will investigate if the bitcoin tax payment system was legally created

Are there non-cryptocurrency reasons behind this? Yes, a change in State Treasurer, the office that created the bitcoin payment system + a non-competitively bid contract to operate the bitcoin tax payment portal

Cleveland.com | Ohio suspends bitcoin tax-payment program. And it’s not clear if it’s coming back.

3 Budget Line Items Veto due to cybersecurity concerns.

Which Governor said funding cyber security concerns supported line item vetos? Michigan’s Governor

What items were vetoed to protect the state’s cybersecurity?

  •  school aid spending focused on specific vendors
  • increase per student funding for charter schools
  • funding for a tourism campaign

Detroit News | Gov cuts GOP pet projects in bid to restart budget, road aid talks

New Ransomware Study. Number of Attacks. Cities. Healthcare. Schools.

Who authored the ransomware study? The security firm Emsisoft

What time period does the data cover? January 2019-September 2019

What is the impact of ransomware attacks?

  • 621 US government entities, healthcare providers and school districts, colleges and universities were hit this year
  • 68 state, county and municipal entities 
    • $5.3 million in total ransom demands
  •  62 incidents involving school districts and other educational establishments
    • impact to 1,051 individual schools, colleges and universities
  • 491 ransomware attacks this year affected US health care providers
  • $8 billion in global losses from ransomware, up 60% from 2018

Security Week | Ransomware Hits Hundreds of US Schools, Local Governments: Study

Policy Issues for Cyber Security in Autonomous Vehicles

Where is there pending legislation for cybersecurity of autonomous vehicles (AVs)? Congress

What is the legislation? S.1885 – AV START Act (115th Congress)

What are the policy issues for AVs?

  • requiring autonomous vehicle manufacturers to develop and execute a plan for reducing cyber vulnerabilities
  • should a manufacturer have a cybersecurity plan before it can sell vehicles?

Who are stakeholders in the legislation?

  •  a coalition of consumer rights
  • public health and first responder groups
  • vehicle manufacturers
  • ride share companies

The Hill | Cyber rules for self-driving cars stall in Congress

Crypto Currency + Human Trafficking Legislation + Utilities

Who is calling for Human Trafficking legislation to include a cryptocurrency angle? former director of the Office of Illicit Finance at the U.S. Department of Treasury

What is the link between human trafficking and cryptocurrency? human traffickers use anonymous, decentralized financial systems (bitcoin etc…) to shield payments of unlawful activities from police and regulators

How can this be regulated?

  • Better oversight over cryptocurrency miners by tracking excessive electricity usage
  • Create a new form of regulated financial institution, a “virtual asset transaction validators,” , crypto miners
    • the financial transaction validators would be gatekeepers to watch for bad actors

National Law Review | Former Director of Office of Illicit Finance Calls on U.S. Congress to Regulate Crypto Miners in Effort to Combat Human Trafficking

State Procurement. Consolidating Data Centers. Welcoming Private Cloud Computing.

What are 3 ways Nebraska reduced spending by consolidating data centers?

  • Closed a statewide data recovery center
  • Co-located the data center with a county data center
  • State runs a private data cloud that local governments use to store data

How long did the process take? 18 months to consolidate 22 state agencies

State Tech | States Find Security and Savings in Private Clouds

How did Ohio switch from data centers to private cloud for data security?

Who led the switch to private data cloud in Ohio? Ohio Office of Information Technology 

How did the process start? legislation? No, it was by Executive Order.

How much will Ohio save?

  • 2,459 to 1,896: Retirement and attrition of IT infrastructure staff
  • $40 million to $980,000: Reductions in annual agency server hardware spending
  • $28 million to $3 Million: Hardware repairs and maintenance
  • $54 million to $35 Million: Backbone network optimization
  • $34 million to $27 million: Software

State Tech | States Find Security and Savings in Private Clouds

4 Ways States Use Blockchain for Data Security

Where: Colorado

What are examples of state programs that lend themselves to blockchain?

  • transferable licenses
  • land rights
  • tracking complex grant programs
  • food safety

How has Colorado adapted to state use of blockchain/distributed ledger technology?

  • Colorado created the position of Blockchain Architect

State Tech | Data Security Emerges as Top Government Application for Blockchain

Anatomy of a State Cyber Risk Fund. Procurement Opportunity for Insurance Carriers.

Where: Arizona

What is the funding request for the Arizona State Cyber Risk Fund? $22.5 Million

What would it fund? statewide insurance & response for data breaches to state agencies 

AZ Mirror | Arizona agency wants $22 million for ‘cyber risk fund’