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Fraud & Security Intelligence

Find out how analytics can protect against fraud and cybercrime

Analytics | Fraud & Security Intelligence

Greg HendersonNovember 26, 2012 0

"Financial fraud is the dominant crime of this millennium"

Several weeks ago, South Carolina was the victim of what some experts believe to be the largest cyber-attack against a state tax department in history. Approximately 3.6 million personal South Carolina income tax returns were exposed, and nearly 657,000 businesses compromised, in an international hacking attack. Coincidentally, SAS and the SC

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Government

Analytics | Fraud & Security Intelligence

Chuck EllstromNovember 6, 2012 0

Disaster recovery fraud, and back-office romance

Disasters like Hurricane Sandy, by and large, shine a positive light on humanity, with the heroic actions of first responders and volunteers, and the massive outpouring of support from across the nation. They also present fraud opportunities for the shady operators and criminals among us. Hurricanes leave behind a lot

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Government

Analytics | Fraud & Security Intelligence

Carl HammersburgOctober 19, 2012 0

Is real-time fraud detection possible in government programs?

The first step is to answer the question of what “real-time” actually means. Depending on the program and industry speed of response, I’ve heard answers that varied from milliseconds for the biggest banks in processing credit card charges to 24 hours for some government programs. A better description of what

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Government

Analytics | Fraud & Security Intelligence

Carl HammersburgSeptember 20, 2012 0

Social Network Analysis and the government fraudster

Detecting and preventing fraud isn't easy. Many tools and techniques are required, and while the digital age and advanced technologies have made fraud much easier in many ways, those same technologies have opened up new ways to combat it. One of those comes in the form of social network analysis,

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Government

Analytics | Fraud & Security Intelligence

Carl HammersburgJune 28, 2012 0

Government fraud and the Goldilocks Complex

We've all heard of her. A little blond girl with a penchant for trespassing, and very finicky preferences in mattresses and breakfast food. Unfortunately, Goldilocks isn't just part of a fairy tale, she is alive, well, and causing havoc throughout government. If you haven't made the connection yet, "bear" with

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Government

Fraud & Security Intelligence | Students & Educators

Paula HendersonDecember 21, 2011 0

2011: The more things change...

2011 saw incredible change in the states as more than half of the governorships changed hands. As expected, that caused significant turnover at the State CIO level, as well. So while executive and technology policies changed in many ways, the dismal budget situation reinforced the need to allocate tax pay

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Education | Government

Analytics | Fraud & Security Intelligence

Greg HendersonApril 5, 2011 0

Feds Stepping Up to Combat Healthcare Fraud

The federal government is more aggressively pursuing health care fraud, and helping the states do the same, by proposing funding changes and investing in new technologies. A newly proposed rule would allow 90% Federal Financial Participation (FFP) for data mining initiatives in state Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCU’s). Another proposed

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Government

Fraud & Security Intelligence

Paula HendersonFebruary 14, 2011 0

Data: The financial crisis’ silver lining

Brian Whittington mentioned last month that government is innovating, and at great speed. Based on what I’ve seen in our line of work with state and local governments around the country in the past year, I have to agree. In the face of today’s daunting fiscal challenges, state and local

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Government

Fraud & Security Intelligence

Brian WhittingtonJanuary 4, 2011 0

Innovation in Government: A 2011 refresher

Most people don’t think about government when they hear the word “innovation”, but it’s happening, and has been since long before “The Great Recession.” However, the current economic conditions have certainly moved things along. Government responds very similarly to private industry when faced with challenges. SAS manages to do relatively

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Government

Fraud & Security Intelligence

Greg HendersonDecember 16, 2010 0

Enterprise Case Management in state government

Paula Joshi wrote last month about how what we learn from the commercial world can be applied in government. She also promised to post a few examples. I’ll get that ball rolling. This week SAS announced the availability of SAS Enterprise Case Management. While the announcement focuses more on the

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Government

Fraud & Security Intelligence

Paula HendersonOctober 26, 2010 0

Take me to your thought leader...or customer

One of the primary goals of this blog is to establish our contributors and by extension, SAS, as thought leaders in a variety of state & local government areas. It’s also a goal of the upcoming SAS Government Insights publication, which includes a thoughtful opinion piece about what it means

Fraud & Security Intelligence

Paula HendersonOctober 19, 2010 0

Statistics every day, in every state

Today SAS joins thousands of others across the globe to celebrate the first World Statistics Day, proclaimed by the United Nations as a way to “help strengthen the awareness and trust of the public in official statistics.” More than 85 government agencies in nearly 70 different countries around the world

Fraud & Security Intelligence

Paula HendersonSeptember 10, 2010 0

Data hosting can help alleviate state, local budget crises

The shortfall in 2010 state and local government budgets is not news. But it remains the biggest issue facing state and local governments today – and will continue well into tomorrow. Existing gaps are projected to widen further in 2011, throwing departments and agencies already on the edge further into

Fraud & Security Intelligence

Greg HendersonSeptember 7, 2010 0

Unemployment Insurance – A savior for displaced workers? Or a gold mine for professional scammers?

Unemployment Insurance, mandated by federal statute and administered by states, is designed to provide a temporary safety net for workers who lose their jobs. Due to the recent economic downtown and increase in unemployment, unemployment benefits paid have doubled nationally from $38B in 2008 to $75B in 2009. However, is

Fraud & Security Intelligence

Michael ProtzAugust 20, 2010 0

Keep Those Laboratories Open!

The last two years have been one long, downhill-only roller coaster ride for state and local governments. Budget crises that are the result of decreasing revenues at every level have left state legislatures, governors and local government leadership struggling to maintain effective services for their citizens and, in some cases,

Fraud & Security Intelligence

Chuck EllstromAugust 2, 2010 0

Transparency and performance paramount at meeting of the minds…and me

I recently met with five people who have been in state and local government for a combined total of over 100 years. It was a group that covered multiple areas of government including Health and Human Services, Courts and Corrections, Finance and Emergency Management. Everyone came to the table with

Fraud & Security Intelligence

Paula HendersonJune 7, 2010 0

John Q. Public, reveal thy self

As I make my way around the country I often have the opportunity to talk with state and local government leaders and as you can imagine, the financial crisis is the first, second and third topics on their minds. Everywhere, state and local governments are forced with painful decisions to

Fraud & Security Intelligence

Greg HendersonMay 28, 2010 0

Locally grown fraud on the menu at California auditors event

I presented recently at the County Auditors Association of California annual conference. It was a packed house in Death Valley, CA, and after weathering a major sandstorm, the attendees seemed anxious to learn of the latest fraud trends in local government. Based on the questions and sidebar discussions throughout the

Fraud & Security Intelligence

Paula HendersonMay 24, 2010 0

Esse quam videri – North Carolina state motto, meaning “To be, rather than to seem”

The motto of SAS’ home state gets at what I hope will be a recurring theme of State and Local Connections. How can state and local governments differentiate between what seems to be and what is? How can they move beyond intuition and gut feelings to know the truth? It