April-20178GOVERNMENT CIO OUTLOOKOIN MYPINIONIs Technology an Effective Tool to Manage Government Security?Joanne Hale, Secretary of Information Technology, State of AlabamaIByt is a matter of absolute wonder as to how the world around us is evolving in a rapid pace and attaining new heights within a brief span of time. Owing to recent developments in information and learning, governments today seem to incline more towards a technology-driven approach instead of clinging on to the erstwhile traditional modes of administration. With governments steadily transforming into e-governments, the question of security management has turned out to be of paramount importance. To tackle complexities pertaining to security, numerous governments have started employing technology as a means to curtail risks and simplify the existing modes of supervision. Cloud Computing as a Tool for Security SolutionsIn recent times, several trends have emerged into this landscape with the intention of reforming the aspect of security in the public sector. Validating this statement, many public organizations are found to be adopting a range of latest technologies with respect to information, data and infrastructure in addition to security solutions. Cloud computing, one of the most prevalent hi-tech innovations at the moment, has quite evidently made its entry into the arena. Despite the cloud being formally mainstream, a handful of executives still believe that its security practices are not reliable enough to preserve valuable data and mission-critical tasks at hand. However, this notion is bound to change with the ushering of leading cloud service vendors who continue to develop and implement exceptionally upgraded security controls. When it comes to internet security, the advances in cloud security technologies can be interestingly metamorphic. Cloud-based cyber security has the potential to induce knowledge accumulation and risk prototyping, obstruct threats, augment solidarity and collective learning, minimize the gap period between detection and remediation and finally create dependable communication conduits. Generating cost reductions while providing a secure platform for keeping data, the outlook of cloud computing becomes all the more appealing.How is the Public Sector Transforming?In the wake of digital revolution, IT has gained remarkable momentum thereby transforming the face of business to a phenomenal extent. As a consequence, most governments at present are moving ahead in the direction of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to improve activities in the corporate front. Notably enough, this is where the role of an information officer comes into play as an operator who commands the reins of the business. They determine the progress of a government through the integration of changing trends with the existing system of administration. Thus, the responsibilities of an officer are likely to fluctuate depending on the need of the hour. Looking back ten years from now, leaders of IT in the state were expected to be inward-looking, somewhat like technicians aspiring to solve problems that others had identified. But this estimation soon yielded to the dominion of the Internet era that transpired a few years hence. Thanks to this paradigm shift, IT now is seen as the engine that drives every aspect­be it an agency, a process, a decision Joanne Hale
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