WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced grants to 26 states and the Virgin Islands totaling $8,797,186 to enhance unemployment insurance (UI) information technology security.

“Unemployment insurance can be a lifeline to workers during difficult times,” said Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. “These grants will fund improvements in state unemployment insurance programs to make them more secure, helping to ensure that workers can get help when they need it most.”

The awards will encourage states to use the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s guidelines to enhance, augment and further secure state UI systems. They also will address information technology (IT) security weaknesses identified in Federal Information Security Management Act security audits conducted by the Office of Inspector General in several states. Today’s announcement marks the third year unemployment insurance information technology security grants have been awarded.

Among other activities, these grants specifically will fund critical IT security projects in risk management, contingency planning, incident response capability, data center security, security awareness and training, data integrity, hardware and systems software security, system security planning, and IT security documentation.

“These projects will raise the bar among state unemployment compensation systems to safeguard the resources that workers sometimes draw on,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training Emily Stover DeRocco.

For information on unemployment insurance, visit: http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/unemployment-insurance/index.htm.

For more information on the Department of Labor’s employment and training programs, visit www.doleta.gov.

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NOTE: A list of grant recipients is attached.