Increasing cyber diligence across the State
With the ongoing tensions overseas, please be aware of the threat of cyberattacks and threats that could affect you and what IOT is doing to keep you safe.
IOT's goal is to protect the State and our digital assets as best as possible while minimizing disruption to your business operations.
Most of the State's internally-hosted applications already have web traffic blocked from non-North American access. IOT is reviewing and validating this configuration and seeking to expand the protected applications list.
For the agency cloud-based applications, IOT seeks similar blocking protocols for specific countries to provide the same level of protection as the internal applications. IOT is also looking at restricting all other inbound and outbound, non-web-based traffic to those specific countries to limit exposure of both human and bot-generated activities within the State’s environment.
As for IN.gov, IOT has placed the same country-based restrictions on the web and application levels. Our vendor partner for IN.gov has multiple layers of internet traffic monitoring and filtering that the State will be taking advantage of and ensuring consistency with IOT’s other internal application strategies.
What can I do to stay safe? Be careful what you click. If you receive an email from someone you do not know, do not click any links. Stay on secure websites. Our Information Sharing and Analysis Center continues to send out cybersecurity modules each month for all employees to learn from. Apply what you have learned from these the next time you see something suspicious.
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CIO Tracy Barnes, State Earn & Learn program nominated for 2022 StateScoop 50 awards
Voting is open for the 2022 StateScoop 50 Awards, with Chief Information Officer Tracy Barnes and IOT's SEAL program named nominees. Cast your votes before April 15 – you can vote as many times as you like (hint, hint).
The StateScoop 50 awards honor the best and the brightest who make state government more efficient and effective. These awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of our peers and acknowledge their tireless efforts to make a positive impact in the government IT community and in public service.
Tracy Barnes is a nominee for the Golden Gov - a category for a visionary state executive leading state government into a new technology landscape with innovative ideas and inspiring others to get on board.
"I am once again honored to be recognized for this nomination for the StateScoop 50 awards," Barnes said. "I am humbled to work alongside my team at IOT and am proud to have seen their dedication to their work not only through the pandemic, but each day since. This is truly an award celebrating them."
IOT's SEAL program is a nominee for the State IT Innovation of the Year - a category for a cutting-edge state IT approach to cross-agency or intra-agency technology that embraces innovation.
In 2019, IOT was certified by the Department of Workforce Development as the first agency to use a State Earn & Learn designation to engage new hires in a program of work-based learning.
The SEAL program provides its associates, who come from all walks of life, with practical skills and certifications that will support public-sector IT, while putting Hoosiers to work in a highly needed, highly meaningful area of growing economic value.
In the midst of the pandemic and losing IT talent, Jon Rogers, the program director, says the State really forged its own path with a solution that has provided talented adults with unique workplace opportunities.
"IOT is taking an innovative approach to developing IT talent for the agency and the State of Indiana," he said. "I am incredibly proud of our associates and their commitment toward making a career shift into critically needed skill areas."
IOT onboarded its first two SEAL associates in March 2020, and both of these individuals successfully converted to IOT staff positions in 2021. Since that time, IOT has added twelve new SEALs to support five teams across the agency.
You can vote for Tracy Barnes and the SEAL program through April 15!
Vote here: https://statescoop.com/statescoop50/vote/#voting
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Check out our About page on IN.gov/iot
The Indiana Office of Technology's mission is to provide cost-effective, secure, consistent, reliable enterprise-technology services and products to its partner agencies so they can better serve Hoosier taxpayers.
What do we do at IOT? IOT was created in 2005 as part of an effort to consolidate IT organizations across Indiana state government. The State saves $13.9 million annually due to remote service maintenance efficiencies, personnel efficiencies, software licensing consolidation and cost avoidance.
IOT’s ‘About Us’ webpage describes the 38 departments in the agency and what each does in turn to help the agency customers.
From customer services to security, find descriptions, managers, major accomplishments, and current projects happening in each department here: https://www.in.gov/iot/about/.
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Behind the Tech: Jon Rogers
In 2005 the Indiana Office of Technology was created to provide cost-effective, secure, consistent, reliable enterprise-technology services to state government. IOT offers more than 120 technology products supported and serviced by expert staff with licenses or certifications in 62 technical areas. Behind the Tech is a spotlight on the staff that provides services for 30,000 state employees.
After Tracy Barnes became IOT's CIO in 2020, he and Jon Rogers had a number of great conversations around the need to put an organization-wide focus on workforce development so that we could help match the people and skills to the technology, operations, and cybersecurity of the future.
Rogers became the agency's first Director of Strategic Workforce Planning, working closely with IOT's Human Resources Director, our Talent Acquisition Consultant, and a number of others in the Indiana State Personnel Department to ensure that IOT is keeping a close watch on the data and analysis behind hiring trends, recruiting, and retention.
In this role, he works to provide a monthly training program for supervisors; engages in all aspects of hiring across the agency; and networks throughout the IT community in Indiana to encourage talented workers to pursue IOT careers.
In addition to the Director of Strategic Workforce Planning, he also is the director of IOT's State Earn and Learn (SEAL) IT program. With a stamp of approval from the Department of Workforce Development, IOT became the first state agency to leverage the SEAL approach for reskilling Hoosiers into IT careers with the State of Indiana.
"I'm very proud to note that, through their hard work and diligence, our first cadre of SEAL Associates earned their necessary certifications and became IOT employees during Spring 2021, and – by July – we launched our second team," Rogers said.
On a daily basis, Rogers works with SEAL associates and their potential teams to develop, review, and refine the training programs, job assignments, and experiences that will give them a foundation of success as they move into their first staff roles. In addition, he frequently engage in future employee info sessions, panels, recruiting events, and mock interviews in the community through Ivy Tech, Eleven Fifty, and others.
"Before and after my business hours, I'm a parent of two exceptionally funny and high-energy children – the oldest of whom, at four, tells me that she would like to work with computers when she grows up. Or be a dentist. Or a doctor. Or a princess," he said.
What's his favorite thing about his job?
"Especially with the SEAL program, but in all areas of IOT, I am most excited to see someone really happy about joining a new team or starting a new career path within the agency," he said. No matter where I've been in public service, I've always enjoyed finding bright, talented people who share my interest in the mission of serving/protecting citizens."
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