NASCIO recently honored Utah CISO Phil Bates as the recipient of the 2020 Thomas M. Jarrett State Cybersecurity Leadership Award. The award honors a state CISO for exceptional accomplishments in their field. 

During his tenure Phil has implemented many programs and initiatives aimed at improving Utah’s cybersecurity posture. Most notably, in 2016, Phil pushed to create the Utah Cyber Center which consolidated state, federal and local resources into a single location, significantly improving coordination between all of these groups. The Utah Cyber Center has played an important role in helping Utah cities and counties respond to several recent ransomware attacks. Phil also oversees a robust state cybersecurity awareness program and is currently working on incorporating additional artificial intelligence into Utah’s cybersecurity activities.

See the full announcement here. Congratulations Phil!

View the October DTS Procurement News here . 

Each year, DTS has $150,000 to give to agencies via an Innovation Fund. The Technology Advisory Board recently approved two projects to be recipients of the FY2021 funds:

Enforcement Waterlink Module – $50,000

Adding an Enforcement Module in the existing Waterlink database will enable the Division of Drinking Water (DDW) to track the lifecycle of enforcement for all public water systems throughout Utah. In the most recent audit by the legislative auditors, it was pointed out by the auditors that DDW’s enforcement program needs to be strengthened and is of priority.  The Enforcement Module will generate tracking of required actions by the regulated public water systems through the tracking of DDW’s informal enforcement actions, legal orders and failure to comply with legal orders. This module provides water system summaries, gives staff the ability to move a water system through formal and informal enforcement, and gives management the ability to see the full picture of water system compliance. This new feature will allow DDW and local health department staff to properly follow up and follow through on actions needed to minimize public health risks and provide an efficient throughput of safe drinking water regulatory requirements.

The innovations provided are in the unique combination of dynamically managing Utah’s Improvement Priority System (R309-400) and better correlating Utah’s enforcement with the federal Enforcement Tracking Tool. The Enforcement Module will represent the first time the state and federal enforcement regulations have been accessible in one application, and used by all who oversee safe drinking water and public health in Utah, including DDW, 13 local health departments, and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Agencies Impacted: Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Drinking Water; Utah Department of Health; all Local Health Departments in Utah; US EPA; Utah’s water utilities that provide drinking water to the public

Benefits: The Enforcement Module in Waterlink is a vital tool that will significantly improve DDW’s performance, turnaround time of DDW enforcement actions, public water systems’ responses in addressing violations and deficiencies, and the coordination between local, state and federal levels, In addition, the DDW’s upcoming fee program relies on DDW’s ability to accurately and timely track violations, deficiencies, and associated corrections or resolutions. The Enforcement Module is an integral part of the successful implementation of the DDW fee program.

Proposed Measures:  There are many formal and informal metrics that can be utilized to show improvement:

1.     Formal Enforcement Measures – Time between failure to comply with a requirement activity and formal Attorney General enforcement, time spent on generating formal enforcement orders, and time spent on Director level decisions for enforcement.
2.     Informal Enforcement Measures – Time spent by water systems on fixing significant deficiencies after informal notification is a direct correlation between the effectiveness of this new module and the protection of public health.
3.     Cost – Reduction in staff time for researching EPA and Utah priority scores, and reduction in staff correlation meetings. Fees generated through enforcement tracking.
4.     DDW Existing Performance Measures – Percentage of population served by approved water systems. Percentage of approved public water systems among regulated public water systems.

Current Performance Measures as Baseline:

1.     Cost – Fees generated through enforcement tracking.
2.     DDW Existing Performance Measures – Percentage of population served by approved water systems. Percentage of approved public water systems among regulated public water systems.

Digital Birth Certificate – $100,000

Paper Birth Certificates cause a burden for many organizations including enrollment in public and private k-12 schools, requesting a driver license, signing up for competitive youth sports. If the state of Utah provided authenticatable PDF certificates using Public Private key encryption, the organizations requesting the document could validate that the documents came from the state and had not been altered. 

In 2018, 47,987 students enrolled in Kindergarten.  The enrollment process is time consuming for parents and the school. Parents for each of those students to drive the piece of paper to their future school where someone at the front desk either photocopied it or scanned it to go in their official school record that is required by state policy. Once a copy was made, the certificate was handed back to the parent. 

Travis Hamblin, the Director of Student Services at Jordan School District is responsible for enrollment. He stated that Moving to electronic birth certificates is “hallelujah”. State statute 53g-6-603 and school board rules require schools to keep a copy of the birth certificate. Neither stipulate how it is received and how it is stored, just that is stored for each student. If the state says a digital birth certificate is official, then the schools will listen. 

If electronic records were available, parents could upload certificates to school online tools and stored electronically. 

In 2017, 37% kids age 6-12 (approximately 80k youth) played team sports regularly. 

As an estimate, somewhere between 80,000 and 130,000 paper birth certificates are presented in person to schools and youth sports each year. These processes are not able to be moved online because a paper certificate is the only official document available. If the state provides a digitally signed certificate using public private key infrastructure, it would create opportunities for each of the organizations to improve their processes.

Agencies impacted: initially we would work with the Department of Health, counties, and the local school districts. Later, this could impact almost every agency. The processes developed can be applied to other digital credentials.

Innovation: we will explore the use of UMA (User Managed Access) in conjunction with UtahID. This would be the first use of UMA in Utah State Government.

The State Security Council has recommended that state agencies use multi factor authentication on state applications using UtahID for authentication. DTS will be implementing multi-factor authentication on UtahID effective October 31, 2020.

What is Multi-Factor Authentication?

A method in which a user is granted access to a system using multiple factors: something the user knows (password), something the user has (a token or code sent to a different device), or something the user is (biometrics).

Why use Multi-Factor Authentication?

Security is a top priority of the state. Multi-factor authentication adds an additional layer of security to help protect state assets and to also protect individual employee identities. The use of multi-factor authentication makes it more difficult for someone to guess your password.

When is DTS implementing Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)?

Beginning September 18, 2020, and completed by October 31, 2020.

See more information here. 

This month’s procurement newsletter is now available and will be sent to agency contacts. The newsletter addresses Priority Shipping, Mobichord Successes, and additional information.  Here is a link to the newsletter.  If anyone has any questions about stock availability per sku, it is being updated directly on the service now service catalog but this link has more information that we are using to help with the supply chain management.  

Here is the DTS June Procurement Newsletter. Please reach out to the DTS Procurement team with any questions. 

We have updated the VPN Access Request procedure and product description. 

• Introducing the Open SGID Database – A New Publicly Available Data Offering
• Cognitive Maps – The Science Behind Our Brain’s Internal Mapping and Navigation System
• May Was Bike (GIS Data) Month!
• Observational Survey: How Does Working from Home Affect GIS Professionals?
• SGID Data Updates
• Recent and Upcoming AGRC Data and Service Deprecations
• More Reads…

Please read this newsletter to know the end-of-year cutoff dates for procuring technology.

DTS has implemented a new Strategic Plan Dashboard to measure success in meeting strategic goals for FY2020 – FY2023.  This was a large effort that required the support of many groups within DTS to accomplish.  The Strategic Plan Dashboard measures the following goals:

Today marks an important milestone for the soft launch of Utah’s new Business Portal and can be viewed at my business.utah.gov. Utah’s Business Portal is an all-in-one resource for managing businesses in Utah. In order to access the Manage page, you will need to log in using UtahID and be associated with a Utah business with DWS. The official launch will be Wednesday, July 1 and will be heavily marketed.

The Department of Technology Services has launched an online chatbot to help Utah.gov visitors find the important COVID-19 information they need. The automated text support tool called, Porter, is found on the homepage of Utah.gov. Porter will help with routine COVID-19 support questions and allows customer service agents to focus on helping with complex questions.

Porter uses machine learning to consume frequently asked questions from users and finds answers from agencies across state and local government to learn how to best serve Utahns. Developers are inputting additional information and analyzing answers provided to help improve responses.

Porter will help connect residents to information about COVID-19 case counts, services for people with disabilities, Medicaid guidance, distance education, unemployment assistance, and more.

DTS has recently posted a new Product Description for UtahID: Identity and Access Management (IAM). You can see it here. UtahID: Identity and Access Management (IAM) is the State of Utah’s identity provider and the standard method of authentication. It is a complete identity access management solution implementation. The system is a single sign-on (SSO) solution for both identifying and authenticating users. It is the infrastructure DTS has implemented for IAM. 

For DTS customers needing to configure conference rooms with audio visual equipment to facilitate hoteling and web conferencing needs, the options in this guide should be considered.

In general, a conference room will need:

1. Video display capability
2. Video capture capability
3. Video sharing capability
4. Audio capability
5. Collaboration capability
6. Network access

Here is the latest DTS Procurement Newsletter. 

And here is the latest DTS Telecom Procurement Newsletter. 

We are nearing our 10K transaction milestone for the State of Utah, and a big part of that is due to many of our state employees taking the initiative to adopt eSign during the COVID-19 pandemic. We created a video showcasing just how amazing our users have been with utilizing electronic signatures, which you can watch from this month’s newsletter. Please find the link to that below. As always, please feel free to contact us at DTSeSign@utah.gov for any questions you may have.

Megan Gordon is the new Executive Assistant for DTS. If you need anything from the executive team, please contact Megan at megangordon@utah.gov. We are glad you are here, Megan. Welcome to the DTS team. 

The increase in users and usage of Zoom has made it a target for potential hackers. Zoom video conferencing software has known security vulnerabilities. Uninvited guests can join meetings and present disruptive behavior, and hackers may be able to access a Zoom user’s webcam and microphone or obtain credential data and remotely access a user’s computer.

Use these general reminders and settings recommendations to assist you in hosting and managing secure conferences in Zoom. You can also watch this video here. 

We have recently updated the Enterprise Web Filter Policy. You can see it here. 

Enterprise Web Filter Policy

We are postponing the 2020 Utah Digital Government Summit until later this Fall. Stay tuned for a new date. 

In an effort to practice social distancing in response to COVID-19, some State of Utah employees have been asked to work remotely if possible. DTS has shared some information that provides a few simple tips to help you succeed at working from home. You can see more here. If you need help, please contact the DTS Help Desk at dts.utah.gov and click on ‘Get Help’.

You can see the March eSign Newsletter here. To provide helpful resources for those of you who may be new to eSign, we have created a page on our site that concentrates on teleworking. This page was created with your most recent questions and requests in mind, and as we get more responses from our users, we will continue to add on to the web page as necessary. On this page, you will find step by step instructions on how to send out basic documents for signatures, as well as videos and links to help you get familiar with electronic signature.

DTS has partnered with the Department of Health to design and develop the new Maternal Mental Health Referral Network, which was released earlier this week. You can see it at maternalmentalhealth.utah.gov. The online network contains information on over 100 health care providers throughout Utah, who specialize in providing maternal mental health. Residents can easily search for providers based on their location, insurance, or service offered.  

In one to two clicks, the user can either be speaking with, setting up an appointment or on their way to their desired service provider.  Equally efficient is the method in which new providers can apply and be added to the Maternal Mental Health Referral Network.

In developing an application that places a premium on performance, efficiency, and promoting maternal mental health, new technologies were utilized and implemented.  Built with a React front-end, the release of the MMHRN application marked the first time that the Solutions Delivery team had deployed a project to the Google Cloud. Other “firsts” included the utilization of:

Cloud Build:  A Google product that converts code to a deployable image.  Cloud Build is serverless and only runs when its services are requested.  Once the request has been completed, Cloud Build then shuts down. In addition, you only pay for the services that you are utilizing.

PostgreSQL in the Google Cloud . Instead of using Oracle or MS SQLServer, we used PostgreSQL to improve performance, which is an open source DB in the Google Cloud.

Cloud Functions:  This is another serverless product from Google.  Cloud Functions allowed us to monitor builds in Google Cloud by sending the results of the build to Slack.

Google Storage: Google’s Version of S3  

GraphQL:  GraphQL provides a complete description of the data in your API, giving front-developers the power to ask for exactly what they need and nothing more.  It also makes it easier to evolve APIs over time, and enables powerful developer tools.

Kubernetes Secrets:  Kubernetes Secrets let you store and manage sensitive information, such as passwords, OAuth tokens, and ssh keys. Storing confidential information in a Secret is safer and more flexible.  In the MMHRN application, we deploy into a Kubernetes environment that resides in the Google Cloud.

Members of the Solutions Delivery team who were responsible for the design, development and deployment of this site include: Austin Haws, Aaron McElwee, Joseph Sharp, Keaton Walker and Casey Wardle.

In an effort to be more responsive to agency needs, we are making some changes to DTS development resources.

Dept. of Administrative Services: Kim Matheson and her development team will report to Bri Lifferth. They are currently housed at the new Taylorsville State Office Building.

Dept. of Agriculture and Food: Eileen Duffield-Wolff and some of her development team will report to Bill Boudreau. They will be housed at the DAF building.

These teams were previously part of the DTS Solutions Delivery team. This change will help the DTS team better understand the agency business needs, and can help innovate and enhance systems ongoing.

Utah’s Maps on the Hill exhibit will be available for viewing on Tuesday February 25, from 9:00am to 12:00pm in the Utah State Capitol Building Rotunda. 

Maps on the Hill, a free event, is a great way to learn how current mapping technology is being applied to important issues across a wide range of disciplines including economic development, natural resources, infrastructure management, public lands and environment issues, efficient services delivery, and more.  Maps on the Hill is expected to draw over 35 map exhibits from all levels of government, private sector firms, and higher education. Utah’s elected officials and the public are invited to come learn about the various mapping projects from professionals and students.

Maps on the Hill is organized by the Utah Geographic Information Council (UGIC), a statewide user group of Geographic Information System (GIS) professionals, in partnership with the State of Utah’s Automated Geographic Reference Center (AGRC).

More information is available at http://ugic.org/maps-on-the-hill.

The eSign website is now live! This site allows users a way to access their accounts, see how the state as a whole is progressing in our adoption of transforming manual paper processes into a digital experience, and learn more about eSign’s many functionalities. The site also has information on upcoming training opportunities and product enhancements. Go to eSign.utah.gov to check it out. 

CIO Mike Hussey recently recorded a podcast about creating a culture that fosters innovation and emerging technology in state government and how the state is preparing to secure the 2020 elections. Check it out here. 

DTS will start installing critical Windows security patches within the next few days. This will affect state employees who have laptops and desktops with Windows. If you have Windows on your laptop or desktop computer, you will see a prompt that will force your computer to reboot after the patch has been installed. 

The Department of Technology Services (DTS) Enterprise E-fax Service offers electronic faxing features that deliver outbound faxes to their destinations and inbound faxes to email-enabled multifunction devices (MFD), network folders, email accounts, and fax accounts powered by a web browser. With the convenience of a web browser, a user can access their faxes and use the features and functions of the Enterprise E-fax solution. You can see more here. 

The Division of Archives recently sent the following message:

The National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) recently conducted the 2019 Geospatial Maturity Assessment, a national effort to document each state’s current practice of geospatial development practice and use. Utah received a B+, which is the highest grade received by any state. According to the assessment, “collaboration, transparency, and increased efficiency in government are hallmarks of mature state GIS programs.”  You can see more here. 

The 2020 Security Awareness Training will be available soon for employees. All Executive Branch State employees must complete the Security Awareness training annually. One of the most important elements of our defense and protection of the State’s information assets is user awareness and training. As an authorized user of the State’s information resources, you have an obligation to help protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the State’s data. Part of that obligation is completing the required annual security awareness training.