MNIT and Girl Scouts Partner on Cybersecurity Event
10/26/2020 10:36:59 AM
October, 26, 2020 (St. Paul, MN) – Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) and Minnesota’s Employee Resource Group, Women IT ChangeMakers, led an interactive event about cybersecurity with the Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys (GSRV) as part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month in Minnesota. The October 24 event focused on building cybersecurity best practices to keep individuals and the community safe.
“Cybersecurity is such an important field for our young adults to consider as a career opportunity. We need our experts to be curious and courageous to keep our systems secure. We appreciate the partnership with Girl Scouts and the chance for MNIT to showcase cybersecurity as an incredible career option.”
Tarek Tomes, CIO for the State of Minnesota, MNIT Commissioner
Over a dozen women from MNIT gathered virtually to help about 40 girls build real-world skills, like communication, making decisions in a crisis, and investigating a problem. The program taught the Girl Scouts how to identify phishing emails, test cryptology skills, handle a hack, and more.
“At Girl Scouts, we know that girls are ready to be technology leaders, but they need supportive and challenging environments that are built for them. Girl Scouts provides the girl-led space for girls to discover and hone their passions. Girls need role models who looks like them so they can imagine their future in cybersecurity, and we’re grateful to the women at MNIT for partnering with us to offer this exclusive opportunity.”
Hannah Gilbert, Girl Scouts River Valleys STEM Program Manager
Minnesota IT Services works to protect citizen’s personal information and keep state systems running. Minnesota students and families can /mnit/about-mnit/security/index.jspvisit the MNIT website to get tips and learn more about cybersecurity best practices.
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Minnesota IT Services, led by the state’s Chief Information Officer, is the Information Technology agency for Minnesota’s executive branch, providing enterprise and local IT services to over 70 agencies, boards and commissions. MNIT employs more than 2,000 people across 90 physical locations. Together, we build, maintain, and secure the State’s IT infrastructure, applications, projects and services. MNIT sets IT strategy, direction, policies and standards for enterprise IT leadership and planning. We also serve Minnesotans by connecting all 87 counties, 300 cities, and 200 public higher education campuses across the state on the MNET network. Through public-private partnerships, our team proactively protects the state’s information systems and the private data of 5.5 million Minnesotans.
Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys (GSRV) is one of 111 Girl Scout councils in the United States. GSRV operates as Girl Scouts, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, serving 28,000 girls in southern Minnesota, western Wisconsin, and a single county in Iowa. Our work is supported by more than 9,000 volunteers. Girl Scouts River Valleys provides training and resources for volunteers, programming for girls, fundraises for Girl Scouts, runs the retail shops and service centers, manages the product programs (Cookies and Snacks & Magazines), and much more.
