National online cybersecurity talent search and competition open to all Delaware high school students

Dover – Governor John Carney today announced Delaware’s participation in CyberStart America – an innovative, online cybersecurity talent search and competition sponsored by the National Cyber Scholarship Foundation and SANS Institute. Delaware’s high school students are encouraged to explore their aptitude for cybersecurity and computer science by participating in the program and will have the opportunity to win scholarships, as well as prizes and recognition for their schools.

The CyberStart America program is a series of 100% online challenges that allow students to act as cyber protection agents, solving cybersecurity-related puzzles and explore related topics such as code breaking, programming, networking, and digital forensics. The program can be assigned as part of homework, can form the basis of an extracurricular club, or students can just try it on their own. Participating students and their teachers do not need knowledge or experience in information technology or cybersecurity to take part. Everything they need can be learned in the game. The program is free for schools and students, and all Delaware students in grades 9-12 are invited to participate. Building on the success of last year’s Girls Go CyberStart program, this year’s CyberStart Game is open to all high school students. Anyone who reaches level 5 in Game will qualify for the national competition to win scholarships. To further encourage participation of young women and JROTC cadets, communities are offering additional support and community-specific awards within the overall scholarship competition.

“This is a great program that builds on our statewide efforts to provide students with real-world experience and technology skills that will be valuable in any career,” said Governor John Carney. “These competitions offer fun activities for young people to explore and learn about the high-tech, high-impact field of cybersecurity.”

“CyberStart is a great way empower and inspire young people to pursue STEM fields including cybersecurity,” said Acting Chief Information Officer Jason Clarke. “In a pilot of the program last year we had over 180 students participate and 16 succeeded in reaching the national finals. This year we hope to triple the number of students participating and reaching the scholarship round.”

“The CyberStart challenge is both a fun and educational experience that gives students the chance to engage in lively hands-on learning and the opportunity to earn valuable college scholarships. We hope even more students will participate in the challenge this year,” Secretary of Education Susan Bunting said.

The National Cyber Scholarship Foundation anticipates awarding scholarships worth a total of $2 million for use at any accredited college to 600 high-scoring students across the nation who participate in the competition in 2021, with students able to compete for state-specific and community-specific prizes as well as national championship status. There will also be incentives for Delaware high schools to encourage more students to reach the qualifying level in CyberStart Game, including exclusive access to additional cybersecurity education resources and recognized cyber skills mastery badges for their students.

Complete details may be found at www.cyberstartamerica.org. High school students may register for the program beginning October 30 and may begin playing the CyberStart Game at 12:00 AM EST, November 15. They may continue playing, and invite their friends to join them, through February 28, 2021. Students will be informed that they qualify for the CyberStart National Scholarship Challenge Round (the “Nationals”) as soon as they have achieved sufficient progress, but they are allowed to continue playing and learning in order to build more skills that will be useful to them in the Nationals. To see the types of challenges students will face in the games, visit https://go.cyberstart.com.

Participating students and schools are encouraged to share updates on social media with #cyberstartDE.

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About the Delaware Department of Technology and Information

The Department of Technology and Information (DTI) is the state’s central IT organization, chartered to deliver core services to other state organizations and exercise governance over the technology direction and investments of the state. DTI provides enterprise services that enable other organizations to effectively fulfill their missions.

www.dti.delaware.gov

www.digiknow.dti.delaware.gov

About SANS Institute

The SANS Institute was established in 1989 as a cooperative research and education organization. SANS provides cyber security training and certification to professionals at governments and commercial institutions world-wide. Renowned SANS instructors teach over 50 different courses at more than 200 live cyber security training events as well as online. At the heart of SANS are the many security practitioners, representing varied global organizations from corporations to universities, working together to help the entire information security community.

https://www.sans.org

 

Twenty educational support professionals have been selected to represent their districts or the Delaware Charter School Network in the state’s first Delaware Educational Support Professional of the Year Program.

 

“Educational support professionals provide vital services for our students and teachers. They are the paraprofessionals who often work with our students one-on-one or in small groups to provide the individualized instructional support some students need. They are the bus drivers and aides who safely transport our children to and from school daily. They are the custodial staff and office personnel who keep our schools running each day. They are the nutrition staff workers who make sure our children have the healthy meals they need to concentrate on learning. They are the technology staff helping students access instruction in person or from home. These are just a few examples of the crucial roles educational support personnel play in our schools,” Secretary of Education Susan Bunting said. “I laud each of these nominees for his or her outstanding work and look forward to honoring one of them with the state award.”

 

Launching this year, the Delaware State Educational Support Professional of the Year (ESPY) program recognizes outstanding service by school employees who provide direct or indirect services to students and their families. The Delaware Charter School Network also is invited to participate. Employees considered for the award include:

• Paraprofessionals
• Custodial staff
• Secretaries
• Nutritional staff
• School- and district-employed bus drivers
• School- and district-employed bus aides

 

From those nominated at a building level, one educational support professional of the year moves forward to represent each district or the charter school community in the state program. Each district/charter network winner receives a $1,000 personal award from the winner’s district or charter school. The state program then chooses one person annually to serve as Delaware’s Educational Support Professional of the Year. State winners receive an additional $1,500 personal award from DDOE as well as $2,500 to be used for the educational benefit of his or her students.

 

A selection committee reviewed the local winners’ state applications, and Secretary Bunting will name the first Delaware winner on Friday. That person will serve as the 2021 Delaware Educational Support Professional of the Year.

 

DDOE is excited to recognize these outstanding professionals whose work is vital to students’ success.

 

The 20 nominees are:

 

Appoquinimink: Middletown High paraprofessional Valerie Raab (awarded posthumously)

Brandywine:  P.S. duPont Middle paraprofessional Ryan Matthews

Caesar Rodney: W.B. Simpson Elementary paraprofessional Paula Kohout

Cape Henlopen: Richard Shields Elementary paraprofessional Chantal Smith

Capital: William Henry Middle School paraprofessional Jamel Trott

Delaware Charter School Network: Charter School of Wilmington Assistant to the President/Admissions Director Suzanne Musacchio

Christina: Jennie E. Smith Elementary senior administrative secretary Alice Williams

Colonial: Southern Elementary paraprofessional H olly Wiedenmann

Delmar: Delmar High School Intensive Learning Center assistant Odell Jones Jr.

Indian River: Indian River High IT technician David Clark

Lake Forest: Lake Forest North Elementary Child Nutrition Services Manager Karen Mast

Laurel: Laurel High School custodian Justin Saulsbury

Milford: Lulu Ross Elementary paraprofessional Robert Newsome

NCCVT: Hodgson Vo-Tech paraprofessional Megan McClelland

POLYTECH: POLYECH High Technician Plant Operator& Maintenance James Demko

Red Clay Consolidated: A.I. duPont High paraprofessional Kathryn Ellis

Seaford: Central Elementary school behavioral interventionist LuAnn Holden

Smyrna: North Smyrna Elementary paraprofessional Nadine Collins

Sussex Tech: Sussex Tech High School Technology Coordinator Philip Wilson

Woodbridge: Woodbridge Middle School chief custodian Thomas “Pete” Faulk

 

Find photos of the nominees and learn more about the program here.

Shortlisted for European Captive Review honor

Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro shared today that Delaware was named as one of three finalists for International Insurance Domicile of the Year within the European Captive Review Awards. The winning domicile will be announced in a virtual ceremony on November 26. Delaware is the fifth largest global captive domicile. Commissioner Navarro commended his staff and highlighted their experience and fluency in multiple languages as key attributes to the department’s success.

“With speakers of French, German, Lithuanian, Russian, and Spanish, and decades of experience in international captive matters, the Delaware Department of Insurance Captive Division has a worldwide presence that far exceeds our size,” said Commissioner Navarro, adding that the department’s work on international regulation is prominent in the industry. “Our team participates in supervisory colleges with other jurisdictions around the world to successfully coordinate insurance regulation on a global scale.”

In addition to the recent short-list announcement, the department’s captive team is one of only four captive domiciles to be trained and certified by the International Center for Captive Insurance Education. In 2019, Delaware was named a finalist for Non-Asian Domicile of the Year by leading industry magazine Captive Review.

To learn more about the Delaware Department of Insurance Captive Division, visit captive.delaware.gov.

DOVER (Nov. 15, 2020) – The Delaware Division of Public Health (DPH) is announcing today that it is mailing letters to individuals who were impacted by a recent data breach incident and is providing information to the public regarding the incident.

On September 16, 2020, the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) discovered that a Division of Public Health temporary staff member mistakenly sent two unencrypted emails, one on August 13, 2020, and one on August 20, 2020, to an unauthorized user. These emails contained COVID-19 test results for approximately 10,000 individuals. The August 13, 2020 email included test results for individuals tested between July 16, 2020, and August 10, 2020. The August 20, 2020 email included test results for individuals tested on August 15, 2020. The emails were meant for internal distribution to call center staff who assist individuals in obtaining their test results.

The emails were sent, mistakenly, to only one unauthorized user. This individual alerted the Division of Public Health of the inadvertent receipt of emails. They reported deleting the emails, and the files attached to them. Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that there has been any attempt to misuse any of the information.

The files that were mistakenly released to an unauthorized user contained the following information related to COVID-19 test results: the date of the test, test location, patient name, patient date of birth, phone number if provided, and test result. No financial information was released.

A thorough investigation of the incident was conducted. The Division of Public Health has reviewed and reinforced its Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-related policies and procedures. Division staff were retrained in HIPAA, and additional HIPAA training policies were put in place for temporary staff. The temporary staff member is no longer employed with the Division of Public Health.

As required by HIPAA, the Delaware Division of Public Health has reported this breach to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and to the Delaware Department of Justice, as required by state law.

The Division of Public Health is also establishing a dedicated call center, separate from its COVID-19 call center and independently staffed by a contracted company, to answer any questions about this incident. Call center representatives have been fully versed on the incident and can answer questions or concerns individuals may have regarding protection of their personal information.

The call center, which will be operational beginning Monday, November 16, can be reached at 1-833-791-1663 Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, excluding U.S. holidays.

Information will also be posted on the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services website at: https://dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/.

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The Delaware Department of Health and Social Services is committed to improving the quality of the lives of Delaware’s citizens by promoting health and well-being, fostering self-sufficiency, and protecting vulnerable populations. DPH, a division of DHSS, urges Delawareans to make healthier choices with the 5-2-1 Almost None campaign: eat 5 or more fruits and vegetables each day, have no more than 2 hours of recreational screen time each day (includes TV, computer, gaming), get 1 or more hours of physical activity each day, and drink almost no sugary beverages.

NEW CASTLE (Nov. 13, 2020) – The Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) is reminding community- and faith-based 501c3 charitable organizations that primarily serve low-income and/or racial or ethnic minority populations in Kent or Sussex counties that CARES Act Relief funds are available for expenses incurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The deadline is Nov. 15, 2020, for eligible organizations to apply through the Community Resiliency Fund, part of the $100 million Health Care Relief Fund that Gov. John Carney and DHSS Secretary Molly Magarik announced in October.

Applicants will need to provide their organizational information and a brief overview of all funds requested for reimbursement, as well as how projected expenses through Dec. 30, 2020, will be spent. All expenses must comply with U.S. Treasury Department guidance.

For eligibility requirements and the online application, go to DHSS’ Health Care Relief Fund webpage.