Following a December 2022 acquisition, Ankeny-based cybersecurity firm Pratum has been transitioning its brand into Heartland Business Systems, a Wisconsin-based technology services provider with an Iowa office in Urbandale.  Pratum has kept its name in the Iowa market but will move the brand entirely under HBS in the coming months, a spokesperson wrote in an email. […]

On their partnership for Cybersecurity Action Month October has been Cybersecurity Awareness Month since 2004, but two Iowa tech organizations took the opportunity to make the month about taking action as well. For the last four weeks, Ankeny-based cybersecurity firm Pratum and the Technology Association of Iowa have partnered on Cybersecurity Action Month, an initiative to […]

Three chief information security officers of Iowa companies spoke to cybersecurity professionals during Pratum’s Secure Iowa conference on Sept. 21 about the role of a CISO and their approaches to making information security decisions. Speakers included:Meg Anderson, CISO, Principal Financial Group.James Johnson, CISO, John Deere.Ben Schmitt, CISO, Mary Greeley Medical Center. Here are three takeaways from the panel’s […]

The Iowa Secretary of State’s Office is conducting a series of workshops through this week to help counties prepare for 2020 elections. Incident Response Plan seminars take county auditors and staff, IT administrators and emergency management coordinators through a variety of scenarios that could disrupt elections, including natural disasters, power outages and cyberattacks, the office […]

A work-from-home office; 100 assorted technology cables not shown. Photo by Kate Hayden As the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic sweeps the globe, a day at the office for many in Iowa looks a lot different this week.  It’s too early to know how many organizations have shifted their workforce to a work-from-home strategy. But as employers […]

In the 1950s, the threat was nuclear, and even the school children were prepared. The U.S. Civil Defense Administration enlisted the help of animators to create “Duck and Cover,” a short film featuring Bert the turtle to teach children how to protect themselves in case of a nuclear explosion. “If you duck and cover, you […]