Texas Tech Medical School Will No Longer Consider Race in Admissions, Bowing to Trump Administration Pressure

slate | April 09, 2019

Texas Tech University has agreed to stop using race as a factor in admission to its medical school after the Trump administration pressured the university and others to end the use of affirmative action. The president of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center signed an explicit agreement in February eliminating the use of affirmative action in response to a complaint lodged by the Center for Equal Opportunity, an anti-affirmative action group, more than a decade ago. The move is the first of its kind in response to Department of Education directives under Secretary Betsy DeVos, who last year walked back the department’s Obama-era instruction to colleges on how to legally factor in race in admissions.

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EMERGING TECHNOLOGY, CYBERSECURITY

Trustwave Supports United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Zero Trust Architecture with Leading Database Security

Businesswire | March 29, 2023

Trustwave Government Solutions (TGS), a Federally-focused cybersecurity provider and the wholly-owned subsidiary of Trustwave Holdings, Inc., today announced it has been awarded an expanded database security contract with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The expanded contract will allow USPTO to further build upon its robust Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) with the expansion of DbProtect’s purpose-built database vulnerability management, Rights Management for advanced user rights review and Threat Monitoring. “At USPTO, our mission to foster innovation through examination, granting high-quality patents and trademarks is crucial to American prosperity,” said Jamie Holcombe, Chief Information Officer of USPTO. “Part of our mission requires creating, deploying, and protecting the critical data in one of the world’s largest repositories of innovation which includes almost every conceivable creation for over the last 250 years. Our expanded contract with Trustwave Government Solutions is a key investment to ensure our mission is sustained in a secure way.” As the central repository for U.S. Patent and Trademark data, actively monitoring and protecting American innovation and intellectual property data is essential to USPTO’s mission. In response, USPTO has become a pioneer in building and operationalizing Zero Trust Architecture across the five pillars of the federal Zero Trust framework: users, apps, data, networks, and devices. By providing real-time visibility of database assets, vulnerabilities, risk levels, user privileges, and anomalies, TGS will help USPTO security teams deliver on two of the five zero-trust pillars: users and data. “USPTO is constantly at the forefront of Zero Trust Architecture innovation, and we’re thrilled to be a partner on this journey with them,” said Bill Rucker, President of Trustwave Government Solutions. “Data is at the heart of the Zero Trust conversation, and in order to operate securely today and in the future, databases need to be considered as critical assets with the appropriate security considerations applied. Gone are the days of ‘good enough’ scanning. Databases are just more important, and they should be protected at all costs.” TGS’s Database Security offering proactively assesses threats to databases to help government entities gain visibility into the vulnerabilities in on-premises or cloud databases that could lead to a data breach. It automates the security of critical data by uncovering vulnerabilities that threat actors could exploit, limiting user access to the most sensitive data, and alerting on suspicious activities, intrusions, and policy violations. As a result, government clients can spend less time chasing database security alerts and more time on activities that drive value, like remediating risks and reducing attack surfaces. Trustwave has been laser-focused on database security for more than 20 years and is currently protecting thousands of databases across the commercial and Federal Government spectrums. In fact, Trustwave’s DbProtect was the only database vulnerability scanner included in the original tools acquisition under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Continuous Diagnostic and Monitoring (CDM) program, and it is the only database security solution recognized by Marsh’s Cyber Catalyst program to have meaningful impact in reducing cyber risk by top global cyber insurers. As the threat landscape evolves and adversaries find new ways to exfiltrate and manipulate data, the government has been finalizing Zero Trust adoption guidance to adhere to the Biden administration’s cybersecurity executive order to “advance toward Zero Trust Architecture.” USPTO is setting the example for other government entities to employ a database-specific security approach that includes continuous vulnerability and configuration assessments and remediation, database privileged access visibility and control, and continuous database activity monitoring to alert and respond to anomalous database activity. About Trustwave As a recognized global cyber defender that stops cyber threats all day, every day – we enable organizations and governments to conduct their business securely. Trustwave detects threats that others can’t see, enabling us to respond quickly and protect our clients from the devastating impact of cyberattacks. We leverage our world-class team of security consultants, threat hunters and researchers, and our market-leading security operations platform to relentlessly identify and isolate threats with the right telemetry at the right time for the right response. Trustwave is a leader in managed detection and response (MDR), managed security services (MSS), consulting and professional services, database security, and email security. Our elite Trustwave SpiderLabs team provides award-winning threat research and intelligence, which is infused into Trustwave services and products to fortify cyber resilience in the age of advanced threats.

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EMERGING TECHNOLOGY, GOVERNMENT BUSINESS

Verint and Carahsoft Partner to Deliver Digital-First Citizen Engagement Solutions to Federal, State and Local Governments across the U.S.

Carahsoft | March 17, 2023

Verint® (NASDAQ: VRNT), The Customer Engagement Company®, today announced its partnership with Carahsoft Technology Corp., The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider®. Under the agreement Carahsoft will serve as Verint’s Public Sector Distributor, making the company’s citizen engagement solutions available to the public sector through Carahsoft’s reseller partners, NASA Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V and Information Technology Enterprise Solutions – Software 2 (ITES-SW2) contracts. “Government agencies are immersed in a worldwide trend to improve their digital IQ and citizen engagement as reliance on government websites and content continues to expand. Consequently, leading global brands are meeting consumers where they want, when they want, and citizens expect this same level of service from government agencies,” says Verint’s John Bourne, senior vice president, global channels and alliances. “Verint’s partnership with Carahsoft will help the public sector meet these challenges by extending the reach of our customer engagement solutions through Carahsoft’s extensive reseller network.” There are a number of government initiatives in place today that are driving the need for improved digital services and making citizen engagement a top priority. These include President Biden’s Executive Order #14058 (Transforming Customer Experience & Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government) which focuses on transforming federal customer experience and service delivery to rebuild trust in government; and the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) that simplifies security for the digital age by providing a standardized approach to security for the cloud. Verint solutions are FedRAMP Moderate/IL4 authorized, which comes on the heels of more than 20 years helping hundreds of agencies and departments around the world measure and improve citizen satisfaction. “Forward-thinking government and public sector agencies are continually improving their customer engagement tools to provide a seamless digital experience for citizens,” said Michael Shrader, vice president of Intelligence and Innovative Solutions at Carahsoft. “With the addition of Verint to our Customer Experience and Engagement portfolio, agencies will be able to address various challenges, increase efficiency and promote rapid change across every citizen experience. We look forward to working with Verint and our reseller partners to help our joint customers deploy all the capabilities of the Verint Customer Engagement Platform.” The Verint Customer Engagement Platform helps organizations adapt and improve their operations in days, not months or years. It works across the organization, breaking down the barriers that exist between departments and operations. Verint technology enables people and bots to work together seamlessly from anywhere. The Verint Platform open architecture allows organizations to leverage existing investments in new ways. Verint solutions provide agencies with the data needed to surface and act on insights in real time to enhance customer experiences and efficiency, which ultimately drive continuous improvement. With Verint, organizations can create highly differentiated experiences, drive enduring relationships with their constituents and effectively navigate the disruption and constant change government agencies are experiencing. About Carahsoft Carahsoft Technology Corp. is The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider®, supporting Public Sector organizations across Federal, State and Local Government agencies and Education and Healthcare markets. As the Master Government Aggregator® for our vendor partners, we deliver solutions for Customer Experience, Cybersecurity, MultiCloud, DevSecOps, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Open Source, and more. Working with resellers, systems integrators and consultants, our sales and marketing teams provide industry leading IT products, services and training through hundreds of contract vehicles. About Verint Verint® (Nasdaq: VRNT) helps the world’s most iconic brands build enduring customer relationships by connecting work, data, and experiences across the enterprise. More than 10,000 organizations in 180 countries – including over 85 of the Fortune 100 companies – are using the Verint Customer Engagement Platform to draw on the latest advancements in AI, analytics, and an open cloud architecture to elevate customer experience.

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EMERGING TECHNOLOGY, GOVERNMENT BUSINESS

GovCIO Partners with VA to Expand Veterans Legacy Memorial for Memorial Day

PR Newswire | May 26, 2023

For Memorial Day 2023, GovCIO partnered with the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration (NCA) to add to its Veterans Legacy Memorial (VLM) website more than 300,000 service members and Veterans interred in 27 Department of Defense-managed military cemeteries, including Arlington National Cemetery. VLM, a publicly available interactive online memorialization platform, honors the service and sacrifice of millions interred at these military cemeteries; at VA National and VA funded state, tribal, and territory Veteran cemeteries; and two U.S. Park Service National Cemeteries. The digital platform allows family and friends to upload written tributes, photos, biographies, documents, and other information to Veterans' memorial pages. Since the program launched in 2019, over 4.8 million profiles have been created with nearly 60,000 memories added by family members, friends, researchers, and other users. The newly added 27 cemeteries include 18 operated by the Army, five operated by the Navy; and four by the Air Force. "We are honored to be part of this meaningful program that pays tribute to our nation's heroes in such a personal way," said Karen Durham-Aguilera, Executive Director of the Office of Army Cemeteries and Army National Military Cemeteries. "We look forward to this continued partnership so that more people can discover the extraordinary stories of service and sacrifice that make up the fabric of our country." From its inception, GovCIO has led the building, implementation and maintenance of the VLM site for the NCA, ensuring survivors and family members have access to the platform to memorialize their Veterans. "This is a big leap forward for VLM," National Cemetery Administration Digital Services Officer James LaPaglia said. "For us, to be connecting to an interment database outside of the VA is a first. And Arlington National Cemetery is something that our customers have been asking for from the beginning when VLM started in 2019." Additional newly launched VLM features GovCIO helped implement include a simpler and faster search for users to find their Veterans and a new Personal Achievements milestone to celebrate those non-military special occasions in a Veteran's life. "Having a number of my relatives interred at VA national cemeteries, including my father-in-law at Arlington National Cemetery, I am extremely proud that the VA has entrusted GovCIO with this important mission," said Jim Brabston, GovCIO CEO. "Improving the VLM customer experience was our top priority, and we hope these new features will continue to allow families and friends to honor their Veterans." About GovCIO GovCIO is a rapidly growing provider of advanced technology solutions and digital services for the federal government. Combining our extensive federal experience with the latest innovations in IT and disruptive approaches, our experts develop comprehensive solutions to meet the most pressing demands of today's government agencies. From the U.S. military to Health and Human Services, we have an impressive track record of helping our customers optimize how they operate. GovCIO is transforming government IT, empowering our federal customers to meet the challenges of today while building the government of tomorrow.

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