CitySmart by VC3
This curated content is from VC3's blog and shares non-technical, municipal-relevant insights about critical technology issues, focusing on how technology reduces costs, helps better serve citizens, and lessens cybersecurity risks. VC3 is solely responsible for the article’s content.
Displaying Items 16-30 (of 80)
CitySmart by VC3
January 8, 2021
Ashton Hollingsworth, Account Manager, Sophicity
Many towns and cities still underspend on information technology in order to save money. Or, at least they think they are saving money. In reality, the lack of IT investment impacts the work of municipal employees every day in small ways.
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CitySmart by VC3
December 8, 2020
Matt Wood, Network Infrastructure Consultant, Sophicity
While a few rare situations may not apply, the cloud is generally a great option to help fend off cyberattacks and reduce liability in case a cyberattack occurs.
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CitySmart by VC3
November 3, 2020
Eric Johansson, Network Infrastructure Consultant, Sophicity
Do you have an IT partner? Or an IT “reactor”? Because IT today is so crucial to municipal operations, towns and cities are shifting more and more toward hiring IT partners who ensure technology runs smoothly and protects them from threats.
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CitySmart by VC3
August 31, 2020
LaNise Essick, Network Infrastructure Consultant, Sophicity
Phishing emails grow more sophisticated as hackers get better. During the COVID-19 pandemic, scammers are using fear and taking advantage of people working from home to attempt more aggressive and tricky phishing attacks.
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Many data backup implementations are not reliable and end up failing when municipalities need to restore data after an incident or disaster.
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One great benefit of the online video explosion is the ability to easily stream videos live. As a city, you’ve probably already tried live streaming or want to explore this content option more. If so, we’ve got a few tips and best practices to keep in mind as you get those video cameras recording.
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CitySmart by VC3
February 3, 2020
Adrian McWethy, Network Infrastructure Consultant, Sophicity
How would your municipality react to the threat of ransomware differently if you knew that everything encrypted—all confidential, sensitive, and personally identifiable information—would end up accessible to anyone on the internet?
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CitySmart by VC3
January 6, 2020
Mike Smith, Senior Consultant and Team Lead, Sophicity
When people need to call IT support, they need help and they need it now. Traditionally, a warm fuzzy feeling usually does not follow because people encounter schedulers or entry-level technicians reading a script.
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CitySmart by VC3
December 17, 2019
Corbin Son, Network Infrastructure Consultant, Sophicity
In the past, we've often blogged about bad passwords (like "123456"). Encouragingly, city employees have realized that using such bad passwords is, yes, a bad idea. However, a false sense of security can creep in and make them think any other password is okay.
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CitySmart by VC3
November 15, 2019
Brian Ocfemia, Engineering Manager, Sophicity
When someone physically hoards items, their bad habits create a “mountain of stuff” that becomes very visible over time. The same thing happens with electronic information—but the problem is less noticeable because the hoarding does not turn into a physical “mountain of stuff.”
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If a city focuses on information security, they likely focus on securing servers, computers, laptops, and network equipment. Part of a thorough information security plan includes securing overlooked items with vulnerabilities. Here are five common risks you need to address.
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CitySmart by VC3
September 16, 2019
LaNise Essick, Network Infrastructure Consultant, Sophicity
When we talk to cities about their IT support, one frustration they often bring up is responsiveness. Your IT support may be talented and knowledgeable, but if they do not respond quickly when you need and depend on them, the money you pay them is too much—and may even be wasted.
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CitySmart by VC3
August 20, 2019
Nathan Hall, Senior Engineer and Team Lead, Sophicity
As stewards of important citizen and city business information, cities need to treat electronic information just as they would treat valuables locked up in a vault or locking the doors of buildings.
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CitySmart by VC3
July 24, 2019
Eric Johansson, Network Infrastructure Consultant
Cities rely heavily on hardware, software, and technology equipment to run their operations. Each piece of hardware, software, and technology comes from a vendor that you must interact with in some way. In some cases, you may rarely interact with the vendor. In other cases, such as with specialized software, you may interact with the vendor a lot.
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CitySmart by VC3
June 26, 2019
Jasmine Williams, Network Infrastructure Consultant
Hiring reactive, “as needed” IT support begins with hope and temptation. The hope? “I’m a small city. We don’t need much technology support. Our servers and computers should work fine most of the time.” The temptation? “If those servers and computers work fine most of the time, then I’ll barely need to use our IT support—and we’ll save lots of money.” And how does that hope and temptation usually turn out? Not well.
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Displaying Items 16-30 (of 80)