Collaboration and a willingness to learn new practices are the best ways to address cybersecurity concerns surrounding cloud computing, according to IT leaders from across the country. Greg Urban, chief operations officer of Maryland, said that a strong core of talent makes a big difference when exploring cloud capabilities. […]

MeriTalk compiles a weekly roundup of contracts and other industry activity. Here’s what happened this week in the Federal Information Technology community. […]

Civil liberties groups filed a complaint against the Baltimore Police Department, asking the FCC to investigate the department’s use of cellphone tracking devices, which are used in 24 states and the District of Columbia. The Baltimore police, along with other law enforcement agencies, are using stingrays, which are devices that mimic cellphone towers to track suspects’ locations through their cellphone signals. The civil liberties groups argue that this is a violation of Federal law that requires a license. […]

In 2012, the Utah State Legislature recognized the importance of closing the academic achievement gap between wealthy students and those below the poverty line, and specifically wanted to find a way to close the gap before it even started. As a result, the Legislature passed a bill creating an early intervention program to help at-risk preschoolers. After looking at multiple programs and technologies, Utah selected UPSTART. […]

Taking the lead for 36 states, Utah is expected to issue a National Association of State Procurement Officials cloud computing contract in August that helps states get the best deal for equipment and software by bundling their shopping lists into a single bid. […]