MADISON HEIGHTS — The city of Madison Heights will be changing its web domain from .org to .gov, improving the security of a website used by residents and business owners alike.
The switch is made possible with nearly $18,500 in grant funding awarded to the city by way of the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The application process originally began in the 2023 fiscal year.
The Madison Heights City Council unanimously approved receipt of the grant at its meeting Sept. 29. It’s expected that the website madison-heights.org will transition to a .gov web domain within the next three to six months. For the foreseeable future, the original address will still work, forwarding visitors to the new site.
All city materials will have to be updated to reflect the new address. At press time, it was unclear whether the new address will retain the hyphen.
The change comes at the recommendation of the city’s Information Technology and Advisory Committee. In addition to a .gov domain offering best-in-class cybersecurity, the extension also makes it harder for malicious actors to scam people.
For example, a con artist might create a site with a .org extension that swaps the “e” and “i” in “Madison Heights,” tricking people into visiting a scam site. But only thoroughly vetted governmental agencies can obtain a .gov extension. Each .gov site is approved and regulated by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Following council’s vote, Madison Heights Mayor Pro Tem Mark Bliss said he was pleased to see the city change to a .gov domain. He said it was one of the earliest ideas discussed when he first started the IT advisory committee shortly after joining council in 2013.
“The .gov has truly been my white whale,” Bliss said. “Back when I was first elected, I ran on modernizing City Hall with technology — that was the core of my campaign and what I promised to do — and as I end my tenure on council, it’s amazing to finally check that off my list of unfinished business.
“Some things happened quickly but others took time,” he said of committee. “Within the first five years, we got the city on social media, updated the website, and changed our meeting recordings from grainy cameras recorded on VHS tapes to high-definition live streams. And then within 10 years, we implemented cybersecurity initiatives, disaster recovery and fail-over plans, police body cameras and automatic CPR devices that continually give CPR to patients as firefighters take them to the hospital.”
“Now, here we are 12 years later, and we’re finally getting this .gov domain,” Bliss said. “I’m proud of our staff for working through our approval process on this. I’m especially thrilled this was covered by a grant. And I’m incredibly thankful to every member of ITAC for continuing to champion issues like this that maybe aren’t as visible as trash cans or road diets, but they’re incredibly impactful for the future of the city. And if one less resident gets scammed because of the .gov transfer, we will have done our job.”
During the meeting Sept. 29, Madison Heights City Councilman William Mier said he was happy to see the domain change coming together.
“You’d think it’s fairly easy to just change three letters, but it’s not quite that simple. A lot of work has gone into changing it and getting it secure, and as Mayor Pro Tem Bliss said, thankfully we got a grant to cover that cost,” Mier said. “It’s taken time to get there, but it’s well worth that effort. Congratulations to staff for finally seeing it through. It’s much needed.”
Source: https://www.candgnews.com/
