Government Technology - March 2008 - (Page 21)

AT T O R N E Y G E N E R A L , W A S H I N G T O N S TAT E ROBMcKENNA More than 5,000 Washington state residents fall victim to identity theft each year, according to the Federal Trade Commission, and Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna resolved to do something about it. McKenna has been a leader in protecting Washington residents from identity theft, fraud, consumer protection violations and high-tech crimes, such as cyber-fraud, phishing and spyware. In mid-2007, for example, he launched “GUARD IT! Washington,” a multi-agency campaign to educate citizens and businesses about preventing identity theft. “Identity theft is on the rise, but there are things you can do to protect yourself,” McKenna said in July 2007, inviting residents and business owners to join him and experts from the AARP and the Federal Trade Commission at a GUARD IT! Washington forum. “We’ll show you how to protect yourself and what to do if you’re already a victim.” McKenna led GUARD IT! Washington sessions in 15 cities from July to October 2007. Each session included public forums, events for business leaders and a free community shred event. “Bring along your old bills and bank statements, and have them shredded for free,” McKenna said when promoting the tour. “You don’t want an ID thief to find this personal information in your trash. So gather your sensitive papers, bring your questions and join in the fight against identity theft!” JESSICA JONES, ASSOCIATE EDITOR One Space to Organize All Your Web Resources My Briefcase C I O, N O RT H C A R O L I N A Track News & Hot Topics Store Videos & Resources Bookmark Whitepapers & Articles Save External URLs/RSS Feeds GEORGEBAKOLIA When George Bakolia became CIO of North Carolina in 2002, his first task was building trust in the state’s IT department. “If you cannot show success and you don’t build that trust, you cannot achieve anything,” he said. “And it’s an ongoing process; it never ends. You have to show success, credibility and trust throughout.” That attitude has served Bakolia well as he’s led the way on numerous IT projects for North Carolina. One of his favorites is a new data center — a 53,000-square-foot structure about 225 miles from Raleigh, the state capital, that will back up all core services by June 30. At a cost of $24.5 million for property and construction, and $8 million for equipment, the project was completed on schedule and within budget. “I see this as a major plum for North Carolina, because a lot of states are looking at similar needs,” Bakolia said. Oklahoma officials have visited the site, South Carolina and Georgia have expressed interest, and Tennessee recently announced a similar effort. Bakolia is proud to say that North Carolina is finishing a project many others are just starting. “We’re ahead of the curve,” he said. “It’s a major success and an achievement for us, and for our state government.” An earlier success was deploying a new asset management system for IT. Bakolia also instituted bulk purchases of IT equipment, saving the state $27 million since November 2004. And he’s proud of the 2004 IT reform bill that gave the CIO more power to get things done. “It was all about how we improve planning, budgeting and management of IT in state government,” he said. That legislation changed IT governance for North Carolina, paving the way for many improvements that followed. The expansion of the CIO’s role worked out so well for North Carolina, Bakolia suggests other states do the same. JIM MEYERS, STAFF WRITER Take Our Tutorial Today! /briefcase/tour Sponsored by: Confidence in a connected world. 21 http://www.govtech.com/briefcase/tour http://www.govtech.com/briefcase/tour http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - March 2008

Government Technology - March 2008 Contents Point of View Big Picture The Last Mile On the Scene Four Questions for... Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers Let's [Not] Get Physical No Data Left Behind Conservation King Community Drug Test Reinventing the System Better Late Than Never Closing the Deal Spectrum Products Personal Computing signal:noise Digital Communities The Expanding Focus of Digital Communities The Digital Imperative Hot Fusion Redefining Municipal Wireless Made in the USA Bridge Detectives The 2008 Agenda

Government Technology - March 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.