Browsing by Author "Norris, Donald F."
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Item An Analysis of the Impact of Introducing Video Lottery Terminals in Maryland(Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research, 2008-10-14) Shinogle, Judith; Carpenter, Robert; Farrow, Scott; Norris, Donald F.Item Cyberattacks at the Grass Roots: American Local Governments and the Need for High Levels of Cybersecurity(Wiley, 2019-02-21) Norris, Donald F.; Mateczun, Laura; Joshi, Anupam; Finin, TimThis article examines data from the first-ever nationwide survey of cybersecurity among American local governments. The data show that these governments are under constant or near-constant cyberattack, yet, on average, they practice cybersecurity poorly. While nearly half reported experiencing cyberattacks at least daily, one-third said that they did not know whether they were under attack, and nearly two-thirds said that they did not know whether their information systems had been breached. Serious barriers to their practice of cybersecurity include a lack of cybersecurity preparedness within these governments and a lack of adequate funding for it. The authors make recommendations to local governments to improve their cybersecurity practice and to scholars for additional research into local government cybersecurity, an area that, to date, has largely been neglected by researchers from the social sciences and computer science.Item Cyberattacks on local governments 2020: findings from a key informant survey(Taylor & Francis Online, 2023-02-16) Norris, Donald F.; Mateczun, LauraBased on empirical data from a survey that we conducted in 2020 of key informants in local governments (CIOs, CISOs, and IT Directors), this paper examines patterns of cyberattacks, types of attackers, the frequencies of incidents and breaches of local government IT systems, and purposes of attacks. The paper also examines whether and to what extend local governments offer cybersecurity awareness training to their officials and staff and whether a nexus exists between training and these persons support for cybersecurity in their governments. Throughout the paper, we compare data from the 2020 survey with data from a nationwide local government cybersecurity survey that a team that included the authors conducted in 2016. We conclude with recommendations to local governments to improve their practice and management of cybersecurity in their organisations.Item Cybersecurity at the Grassroots: American Local Governments and the Challenges of Internet Security(Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2018-09-26) Norris, Donald F.; Mateczun, Laura; Joshi, Anupam; Finin, TimIn this paper, we examine cybersecurity challenges faced by America’s local, governments, including: the extent of cyberattacks; problems faced in preventing attacks from being successful; barriers to providing high levels of cybersecurity management; and actions that local governments believe should be taken to improve cybersecurity practice. Our research method consisted of a focus group of information technology (IT) and cybersecurity officials from one American state. Our findings indicate that cyberattacks are constant and can number in the tens of thousands or more per day. While our participants noted that while they were not perfect at it, they felt that they had cybersecurity technology under good control. Their biggest challenge is human – that is, end-users who make mistakes or engage in misconduct. Local governments face several barriers in providing high levels of cybersecurity, including: insufficient funding and staffing; problems of governance; and insufficient or under-enforced cybersecurity policies. Participants suggested several ways to improve local government cybersecurity, including: vulnerability assessment, scanning and testing, cybersecurity insurance, improving end-user authentication and authorization, end-user training and control, control over the use of external devices, and improved governance methods, among others. We conclude by making suggestions for further research into local government cybersecurity.Item An Examination of Vote Verification Technologies: Findings and Experiences from the Maryland Study(2006-04-15) Sherman, Alan T.; Gangopadhyay, Aryya; Holden, Stephen H.; Karabatis, George; Koru, A. Gunes; Law, Chris M.; Norris, Donald F.; Pinkston, John; Sears, Andrew; Zhang, DongsongWe describe our findings and experiences from our technical review of vote verification systems for the Maryland State Board of Elections (SBE). The review included the following four systems for possible use together with Maryland’s existing Diebold AccuVote-TS (touch screen) voting system: VoteHere Sentinel; SCYTL Pnyx.DRE; MIT-Selker audio system; Diebold voter verified paper audit trail. As a baseline, we also examined the SBE’s procedures for “parallel testing” of its Diebold system. For each system, we examined how it enables voters who use touch screens to verify that their votes are cast as intended, recorded as cast, and reported as recorded. We also examined how well it permits post-election auditing. To this end, we considered implementation, impact on current state voting processes and procedures, impact on voting, functional completeness, security against fraud, attack and failure, reliability, accessibility, and voter privacy.Item An Exploratory Study of Neighborhood Choices Among Moving to Opportunity Participants in Baltimore, Maryland: The Influence of Housing Search Assistance(ScholarWorks, 2005) Bembry, James X.; Norris, Donald F.This study examined the neighborhood choices of 150 families who participated in the Moving To Opportunity Program (MTO) in Baltimore, Maryland. The MTO program, utilizing an experimental design, provided intensive housing search and counseling services to the experimental subjects. This study found that the counseling services were instrumental in altering the subject's cognitive maps, and they were more likely to move to neighborhoods that were more racially integrated, safer, and, also, had higher levels of satisfaction with their new neighborhood. The authors conclude that the MTO program in Baltimore represents a clear case of public policy that, at least in the short term, worked.Item Metropolitan governance (or not!) in Poland and the United States(Sciendo, 2017-09-29) Lackowska, Marta; Norris, Donald F.In this paper, we address the issue of metropolitan governance by examining its current state and the factors responsible for that state in Poland and the U.S. We find that, despite numerous differences between the two nations, the state of metropolitan governance is quite similar in both. That is, neither country exhibits examples of well-developed metropolitan governance. What is even more interesting is that the factors responsible for this situation are quite similar in both countries. Our principal finding is that political factors (mainly having to do with citizens’ preferences and the resulting lack of support for metropolitan institutions) have prevented the development of metropolitan governance in both. Moreover, because of the strength of these political factors, the current state of metropolitan governance in Poland and the U.S. is not likely to change in the foreseeable future, even under the presumed pressure of economic competitiveness.