The State of Indiana will open a new cybersecurity operations center at Purdue University to help monitor attempts to hack into state computers.
Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann says state databases are the subject of millions of attempted hacks, with hackers seeking access to 25,000 state employees' records, as well as Hoosiers' driver's license numbers and tax and birth records.
"We're successful at stopping virtually every one, but it only takes one, think about that, all those attempts on our systems and it only takes one," she says.
Purdue Chief Information Officer Gerry McCartney says the new center at Purdue's Research Park — a partnership among multiple state agencies, the university and private security companies — will serve as a watchdog, identifying multiple, targeted attempts to compromise government systems.
"A networking security center like this is essentially a monitoring activity, so they're essentially watching what's going on," he says.
McCartney says depending on the issue, students will be able to block threats themselves or notify other state employees downstate to the danger.