DHS wants to expand airport face recognition scans to include US citizens

Tech Crunch | December 03, 2019

Homeland Security wants to expand facial recognition checks for travelers arriving to and departing from the U.S. to also include citizens, which had previously been exempt from the mandatory checks. In a filing, the department has proposed that all travelers, and not just foreign nationals or visitors, will have to complete a facial recognition check before they are allowed to enter the U.S., but also to leave the country. Facial recognition for departing flights has increased in recent years as part of Homeland Security’s efforts to catch visitors and travelers who overstay their visas. The department, whose responsibility is to protect the border and control immigration, has a deadline of 2021 to roll out facial recognition scanners to the largest 20 airports in the United States, despite facing a rash of technical challenges.

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Government Finance

Steady Impact Launches to Help Governments and Community-Based Organizations Boost Economic Mobility Through Cash Assistance

PRnewswire | August 14, 2023

Steady, whose fintech platform helps more than 6 million workers nationwide to track and boost their income, today announced the launch of Steady Impact. As the social impact arm of the popular app, Steady Impact is already the leading administrator and data provider for cash assistance programs across the country, having distributed $115 million to more than 700,000 individuals through partnerships with city governments and community-based organizations. "When we set out to launch our cash assistance program for San Diegans impacted by the pandemic, we knew that success would depend on a partner who not only had the technological capacity to deliver support to families in need, but also shared our mission of uplifting the community," said Khea Pollard, Director of Economic Mobility and Opportunity for Jewish Family Service of San Diego. "It's been clear from the beginning that Steady Impact believes deeply in that mission. Their unparalleled understanding of what it takes to build, maintain, and measure an effective cash assistance initiative is helping thousands of families across the region recover stronger." Steady Impact has helped to develop and administer cash assistance programs in cities from Atlanta to Santa Fe to Baltimore, as well as innovative initiatives launched by community organizations and nonprofits like the Black Music Action Coalition's OnRamp. The company's technology is also used to help program leaders measure the impact of cash assistance on recipients' financial health, and Steady Impact works in partnership with the country's foremost coalitions and research organizations focused on the topic, including Mayors for a Guaranteed Income and the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Guaranteed Income Research. "A growing body of research suggests that cash assistance can be one of the most effective drivers of financial stability and economic mobility," said Adam Roseman, Co-Founder and President of Steady. "The launch of Steady Impact is not just recognition of work we've been doing for a long time. It's also a renewal of our commitment to leveraging technology to scale what works in the fight against endemic wealth and opportunity gaps." Co-founded by Shaquille O'Neal, Steady launched in 2017 with the goal of harnessing the potential of emerging technology to alleviate poverty. The company now works with several state governments to streamline the administration of unemployment insurance, SNAP, Medicaid, and other safety net benefits for non-standard workers, who now make up an estimated one-third of the U.S. labor force. "Steady's mission of making more people financially healthy is incredibly personal to me," said Shaquille O'Neal. "This is the next step in the company's efforts to make sure that everyone has the financial resources to support themselves and their families." About Steady At Steady ,we make data work for the non-standard workforce (1099, gig, and contingent workers). We partner with governments and financial institutions to help their systems work better for the workers we serve. Our flagship 1099 verification of income solution, Income Passport, is promoting access, equity and program integrity across the US. By extracting insights from data on more than 1.5 billion enriched financial transactions and over 151 billion enriched deposits, we help streamline benefits administration, quantify earnings, expand access to credit, reduce fraud, and improve outcomes.

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Emerging Technology, Cybersecurity

ExtraHop® Introduces New Solution for Federal, State, and Local Governments

Businesswire | July 19, 2023

ExtraHop, a leader in network detection and response (NDR), today announced the launch of ExtraHop IDS for Government. As agencies look to implement a zero trust architecture ahead of the 2024 deadline, they are racing to enhance visibility into their IT environments so they can verify that all users, devices, and systems are in alignment with the framework. However, the growing move to decentralize IT infrastructure has added new challenges for already resource-strapped government organizations, increasing the potential for sensitive data exposure. To overcome these challenges, ExtraHop IDS for Government caters to public sector customers, offering an isolated network structure so they can be confident their data is secure. ExtraHop IDS, launched earlier this year, adds intrusion detection to the Reveal(x)™ NDR platform for deeper coverage, streamlined investigations, and a seamless user experience. Government customers can now experience these advantages with flexible deployment options and always-on updates to see more, know more, and stop more cyberattacks. With ExtraHop, government customers will benefit from: Flexible deployment options: Deploy either virtual (1 Gbps or 10 Gbps) or physical sensors (20 Gbps) pre-loaded with tens of thousands of curated IDS rules. Role-based access: Restrict network and data access based on employees’ roles to avoid unnecessary data leaks. Support for disconnected environments: Built-in REST APIs enable customers to upload resources to disconnected sensors, providing support to customers with restricted cloud access. Industry-leading decryption capabilities: Identify malicious activity within encrypted traffic to expose advanced threats and detect malware. "Historically, legacy IDS tools haven't been able to deliver the value that government organizations need, but ExtraHop has completely re-imagined the technology," said David Dalling, Cyber Chief Technology Officer, Accenture Federal Services. "ExtraHop approaches intrusion detection in a new, innovative way, which is well-suited for those in more regulated industries. When combined with the award-winning AI in ExtraHop’s NDR solution, Reveal(x), which strings together suspicious activity, and its unique understanding that attacks aren’t always from the outside, ExtraHop takes IDS to the next level." “Government organizations require solutions that accommodate their needs - solutions that address their decentralized IT structures, compliance concerns, and dwindling resources,” said Sohale Razmjou, Vice President of Federal, Blackwood. “We’re excited to partner with ExtraHop to deliver a solution that helps joint customers tailor their deployment models and access controls, so they can operate confidently.” ExtraHop serves customers in the federal, state, and local government sectors, including Dallas County and the City of Canyon. Defending vital government and civilian services from cyber threats, ExtraHop supports zero trust architectures, modernization efforts, ransomware mitigation, and more. “After two decades in the federal sector as a user, cybersecurity executive, and technology project manager, I can personally attest to the rapidly growing need for cybersecurity solutions that government organizations can trust to detect and reveal attacks in real-time,” said Mark Bowling, Chief Information Security and Risk Officer (CISRO), ExtraHop. “With ExtraHop IDS for Government, organizations can benefit from an up-to-date security solution that unifies detection, incident response, and network forensic evidence collection in a single tool, while also integrating seamlessly with tools popular among government customers such as Splunk and CrowdStrike.” About ExtraHop ExtraHop is the cybersecurity partner enterprises trust to reveal the unknown and unmask the attack. The company’s Reveal(x) 360™ platform is the only network detection and response platform that delivers the 360-degree visibility needed to uncover the cybertruth. When organizations have full network transparency with ExtraHop, they see more, know more, and stop more cyberattacks. Learn more at www.extrahop.com.

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Emerging Technology

Euna Solutions Announces Technology Partnership with Pavilion to Fast Track Procurement for State and Local Government

Businesswire | August 16, 2023

Euna Solutions, a leading provider of purpose-built, cloud-based solutions for the public sector, today announced a new technology partnership with Pavilion, the leading search platform across the largest network of cooperative contracts for the public sector. Under the partnership, Euna Procure, powered by Bonfire, will be integrated with the Pavilion platform, delivering a seamless experience to find, use, and share cooperative contracts and fast-track the procurement process. Euna Procure is a complete set of eProcurement solutions for the public sector. It features the largest and fastest growing supplier network consisting of more than 700,000 suppliers. By integrating with the Pavilion platform, public sector procurement teams will now have access to more than 100,000 shareable contracts from over 400+ national and regional purchasing cooperatives, states, and local public entities. Access to this robust database will make the process of finding cooperative and piggybackable contracts substantially more efficient by allowing users to quickly identify existing contracts they can use to purchase compliantly without a new solicitation process. Other benefits of the Euna/Pavilion integration include: • Time and money savings: Within Euna Procure, users can seamlessly access shareable contracts. Piggybacking on a competitively solicited contract from a peer public entity reduces the administrative costs of running a new solicitation, which for some public entities can be more than $80,000. Shareable contracts can also provide access to more competitive pricing. • Internal and external collaboration: The integration allows agencies to more easily share contracts with other members within their agency, as well as with other agencies around the country. This provides procurement professionals greater access to public contracts, improving both internal and external collaboration. • Integrated workflows: Once procurement managers have identified the right contracts in the database, they will be able to easily reference them and invite suppliers to participate in new solicitations. “We are very excited about our integration with Pavilion as it will empower our customers to leverage their peers’ experience by accessing the nation’s largest network of shareable contracts,” said James Ha, Chief Growth Officer at Euna Solutions. “Partnerships like this help our customers promote responsible sourcing and efficient outcomes that improve communities.” “As public entities look to do more with less, we’re developing new ways to support procurement professionals in doing their most critical work,” said Mariel Reed, co-founder and CEO at Pavilion. “This partnership creates a more seamless experience for Euna Procure users to find, use and share contracts with other public entities so they can deliver better, faster services and drive greater impact for their communities.” About Euna Solutions Euna Solutions is a leading provider of purpose-built, cloud-based solutions that power critical administrative functions and financial operations for the public sector. Formerly GTY Technology, Euna Solutions offers easy-to-use solutions for procurement, payments, grant management, budgeting, permitting and K-12 administration that are proven to increase operational efficiency, transparency, collaboration, and compliance. Euna Solutions is a trusted partner to more than 2,000 government and public sector organizations across North America, empowering digital transformation and streamlining business processes while enabling higher levels of citizen access, engagement and satisfaction. About Pavilion Pavilion is purpose-built to help you work smarter by providing access to the largest network of shareable contracts from across the country – for free – with one simple search. Find the right contract for you, whether it’s from your neighbor’s filing cabinet or a national purchasing cooperative. Expedite your due diligence and connect with the right supplier to get a fast response and hands-on support.

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