Governments Take Portals to the Next Level

By Stacey McDaniel

State and local governments are finding a number of ways to leverage their newfound presence on the Internet to improve services for taxpayers via Web portals. Back when the concept of "e-government" first arrived on the scene, government agencies began to put up Web sites that offered citizens easy access to government information and forms. Those early, primitive Web portals have been around for a while now, but only recently have many state and local governments begun to build the infrastructure to support them and take the next step -- offering a multitude of online services that save citizens a trip to their local city hall, DMV, or state government office to complete transactions, and that also offer crucial, up-to-the-minute emergency information when necessary.

The evolution of e-government

Building standalone portals for disparate departments can be incredibly expensive, especially for smaller jurisdictions. That is why governments are embracing the idea of a single portal that can be used for a variety of reasons. Putting more effort into building a single, comprehensive, multi-use Web portal makes it possible to offer better availability with more complex online services applications.

A multi-purpose, interactive Web portal seems like a natural evolution for e-government initiatives. In many parts of the country, residents, businesses, and visitors are looking to the Web to become their single point of access for all of their civic needs. The advent of multi-use Web portals indicates that, behind the scenes, more and more systems are becoming interconnected. It is imperative, therefore, that the security of the network -- the backbone of the system -- is not overlooked as these portals grow.

A more helpful, efficient side of government

Web portals (along with the entire e-government initiative) are intended to improve services and streamline government operations, making the government more accessible and efficient. Here are some of the most effective ways portals are achieving that goal:

• Online transactions. These save both the government and the taxpayer time -- and save the government money as well. Online transactions also reduce the paperwork burden on businesses and individuals when dealing with the government. In most states, the annual trip to the DMV to wait in line to renew vehicle registrations (and, in many cases, drivers licenses) can be eliminated thanks to Web portals. The transactions that can be conducted range from paying parking tickets and water bills, to ordering recycling bins, to obtaining fishing licenses -- on Rhode Island's government Web site portal, citizens can now purchase freshwater or commercial fishing licenses.
• Live help.  Many government portals now offer real-time support to visitors via an online chat feature. During the normal business day, government services representatives help visitors find information, answer questions, and offer immediate customer service for online applications -- without even picking up the phone. Internet chat dialog is usually shorter than a phone conversation. This translates to governments being able to reduce the cost of delivering a service. That's why the retail and financial services industries have been using both portals and chat-interfaces for customer service interaction for years.
• Emergency information. Reaching out to citizens with important, time-sensitive information is made easier via a portal. It can bypass old, time- consuming processes that included creating and issuing emergency information through various channels -- sending to media outlets, then copying relevant information and sending to a special Web group, and waiting for them to make the updates. Many governments use an in-house content management system, which makes updating the Web site in an emergency a fairly easy task -- and eliminates the dependence upon a specially skilled person to make updates.

Residents of Miami-Dade County had good reason to use their new Emergency Management Portal this hurricane season. The county recently launched this new emergency branch of their Web portal to offer disaster-recovery and emergency-preparedness information to citizens. The portal, which was purposely launched in time for hurricane season, provided up-to-the-minute emergency status reports as hurricanes approached the Florida coast.  It also helps citizens by offering an online form to report hurricane damage to their neighborhood, as well as advice for those returning home.

More information means there's more to protect

Web portals pull information from various data repositories within a single government, and a portal's uptime depends on the ability of all of the separate systems that support it to run smoothly. In order to maintain uptime in this complex environment, security must be addressed at every level of the network. Another vital consideration is the confidentiality and security of online transactions -- citizens are sending sensitive personal information such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, and bank account information online. As these portals continue to grow and offer more services, security must be addressed every step of the way.

In too many cases, security is an afterthought during portal development, and is not given the attention it deserves. Multiple layers of defense need to be in place to safeguard the Web portal and the information infrastructure on which it depends. A weakness in any tier or layer makes an application vulnerable to attack or compromise. A layered approach will protect the network and infrastructure, the boundaries of the portal environment, the computing environment, and the supporting infrastructure of the Web portal. Here are some important security measures and devices that must be in place to maintain a secure environment for a portal:

• Encryption. Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption should be used for all communications with browser clients to keep sensitive information away from prying eyes during its transit from an individual's computer to the government portal, and vice versa.
• Enterprise-Class Firewalls/Gateway Security. Control all network traffic by screening the information entering and leaving a network to help ensure that no unauthorized access occurs.
• Real-Time Intrusion Prevention and Detection. Blocks and detects unauthorized access attempts and provides alerts and reports that can be analyzed for patterns and planning.
• Virtual Private Networks (VPN). Secures connections between organizations or between a user and his organization, enabling safe communication across the Internet.
• Vulnerability Management. Discovery and remediation of security vulnerabilities.
• Virus Protection. Protects against viruses, worms, and Trojan horses at the gateway and client levels.

Conclusion

As the government is realizing, Web portals can really impact the bottom line and improve internal efficiencies. And as we all know, money saved by the government is money saved by taxpayers -- so everybody wins in that respect. At the same time, citizens are enjoying the ease of access and elimination of the red tape and long lines that used to accompany interactions with the government. As portal capabilities continue to increase, so do the potential risks -- there are more layers of technology that require protection, and more information to keep secure. Taking care to secure the infrastructure behind the portal, the portal technology itself, and the connections between browser and portal is the best way to maintain the integrity of the portal and keep it up and running for citizens who need to access it at any time of day.

Stacey McDaniel has been writing about high-tech issues for more than six years.