East Point’s Information Technology Director Farhad Islam is one of 12 people in the state of Georgia to be certified as a Government Chief Information Officer. Islam’s certification helps to improve the City of East Point’s network security posture. He was recognized for his certification this month during the Georgia Government Management Information Sciences conference in Savannah.

“When you do something like this and your peers realize what you’ve accomplished that earns respect amongst your peers,” said Farhad Islam, The City of East Point’s Information Technology Director. “It made me feel so good about the work that we did and it makes me want to do more work.”

For nearly a year, Islam took part in an intense program through the University of Georgia which required him to have 240 hours of work in his capstone project, in-class meetings, and conferences to receive his certification. The University of Georgia started the Certified Government Chief Information Officer Program through a partnership with the GA GMIS and Public Technology Institute to offer program certification for qualified professionals through online and in-person classes, independent assignments, and a capstone project. The CGCIO focuses on emerging technologies, security, ethics, project and resource management, and other related topics.

“It was like going back to school and taking classes in finance, human resources, and ending with a capstone project,” said Islam. “My capstone project was on The City of East Point’s IT policy.”

In his capstone project, Islam identified weaknesses in the City of East Point’s IT policy. He partnered with a group of students from Georgia State University’s undergraduate Computer Information Systems program to rewrite the City of East Point’s IT policy. They also developed cyber security training as part of the city’s orientation process for new employees.

“When bringing in new employees, they’ll be oriented on cyber security threats, malwares, detecting viruses, and how to seek help,” said Islam. “So, we want to make our users more educated about the cyber threats that are out there. This will help us in being more secure and less vulnerable to ransomware and cyber-attacks.”

Copies of Islam’s policies and training methods from his capstone project will now be adopted and implemented by various cities and counties throughout the state of Georgia.