Tech:NYC Digest: August 4

Tech:NYC Digest: August 4

August 04, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes

Wednesday, August 4, 2021

In today’s digest, what New York stands to gain in the infrastructure bill, Gov. Cuomo stares down an impeachment and possible criminal investigations, and tips on workplace cybersecurity in a hybrid world.

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By the numbers:

  • New positive cases statewide: 3,115 (+183)

    • New positive cases, NYC: 1,589 (+145)

  • Statewide Fatalities: 7 (+2)

  • NYC Positivity Rates: 

    • NYS reports: 2.4 percent (-0.1 percent)

    • NYC reports: 3.1 percent (no change)

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress:

    • Percentage of adults (18+) with at least one dose: 75.7 percent

    • Percentage of total population with at least one dose: 63.4 percent

(For fuller breakdowns, find the state’s numbers here and the city’s numbers here.)

Today’s latest:

Senators introduced a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill on Sunday. It took months of wrangling, and a lot was negotiated out, but the latest 2,700-page version details nearly $550 billion in new spending. It could pass as soon as this week and be sent to the House.

  • The bill is significantly smaller than the proposals from the White House, and Democrats have also put forward a $3.5 trillion budget proposal that they intend to pass through the budget reconciliation process, which requires fewer votes.

Here are some key takeaways for what the bill means for New York:

Transit: The MTA stands to receive at least $10.7 billion in federal funding, making NYC’s transit system will be one of the biggest beneficiaries. (New York Times) 

  • Those funds will also benefit other major transit projects, including the Gateway project to build and repair existing rail tunnels under the Hudson River, completion of the Second Avenue subway in Manhattan, and rehabilitation of the rail tunnels under the East River.

Broadband: $65 billion has been earmarked to improve internet access nationwide, especially in poor and isolated communities. (Wall Street Journal)

  • About two-thirds of that money will be given as grants that states can dole out to operators to reach more households that lack high-speed service, and the rest will be used to convert an emergency pandemic-era program designed to give monthly internet subsidies to low-income Americans into a permanent Affordable Connectivity Fund. (New York Times)

Crypto: Nearly $30 billion in taxes from cryptocurrency transactions is included in the bill. (Axios)

  • This is a primary example of how legislators expect the bill to pay for itself — the “pay-fors” like this are provisions that generate revenue to offset new spending elsewhere. It’s a tool to keep it revenue neutral — and ultimately get the support of Senate Republicans. (CNBC)

  • Language in the bill would also require crypto brokers to report customer information to the IRS, but some senators are drafting a proposal to overhaul the cryptocurrency provision that traders and investors have criticized as overly broad and impractical. (Bloomberg)

Climate change: Tens of billions in new funding was added to protect states against floods, reduce damage from wildfires, and even relocate entire communities away from coastal zones under threat. (New York Times)

In other news: 

  • The New York State Assembly is accelerating its impeachment investigation of Gov. Cuomo after the release of yesterday’s report substantiating sexual harassment complaints against him. The Assembly’s Judiciary Committee plans to meet Monday and combine the report with evidence it has already collected. (Wall Street Journal)

    • Meanwhile, the Manhattan District Attorney and the Westchester, Nassau, and Albany County DAs are requesting materials to open their own investigations over incidents mentioned in the New York Attorney General's report. (Gothamist)

  • Starting next week, New York City will no longer use COVID-19 positivity as an indicator of the pandemic’s grip on the five boroughs. Instead, cases, vaccination, and hospitalization numbers will guide the city’s policy decisions. (Gothamist)

  • As the Delta variant spreads, there’s now also growing concerns about “Delta-plus,” first detected in India and now found in the US. There aren’t yet enough confirmed cases to determine if it’s more severe or transmissible than the original Delta. (Washington Post)

  • The FDA has accelerated its timetable to fully approve Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, aiming to complete the process by the start of next month. Granting final approval — rather than relying on the emergency authorization granted late last year by the FDA — could help increase vaccination rates among those who have said they’re waiting until full approval. (New York Times)

When employees packed up their office equipment and went fully remote over a year ago, IT and security teams had to quickly adjust their privacy and safety protocols for the “at-home” environment. Now, with the workweek being more fluid — workers are neither all-office nor all-remote, but somewhere in between — those protocols can be even harder to get right.

Protocol spoke with a handful of chief information and security officers about the biggest things executives should try to get ahead on in privacy and security for the future workplace. Here’s some key takeaways:

  • Developing a contingency plan: Executives need to adopt a "what-if" mindset with a contingency plan for every possible scenario — be it an attack from an external party, a mistake from home, or a stolen laptop. Be prepared to face it all.

  • Education and awareness: Employee education is one of the most effective ways to increase an organization's security, including arming teams with up-to-date training and education on any phishing or ransomware attacks. Training and continuous learning help employees understand the role end users play in a company's overall security posture.

  • Investing in security: Now is the time to use the best-of-breed endpoint security products because they will pay off in the long run. Companies also need to invest in more specific coverage for infrastructure, IP, and production environments, as each team has different risks and requirements.

  • Security-first approach: Strong end-point security including data leakage protection, a strong multi-factor authentication model, secure web gateway solutions, micro segmentation, and zero-trust network access architecture are all must-haves.

In other reading:

  • The future of work: bring your own environment (TechCrunch)

  • The future of work is worker well-being (Forbes)

  • Behavioral economics expert Dan Ariely: Why you will want to return to an office for work, eventually (CNBC)

  • Banyan, a New York City-based receipt-focused API provider, raised $10 million in funding. Fin VC led the round and was joined by investors including TTV Capital, Motivate Ventures, and Manifold. (EIN Presswire)

  • Localize, a New York City-based real estate tech firm, raised $25 million in Series C funding. Pitango Growth led the round and was joined by investors including Mizrahi-Tefahot. (FinSMEs)

  • Pico, a New York City-based financial markets tech company, agreed to go public via merger with FTAC Athena Acquisition Corp., a blank check company backed by Betsy Cohen. The deal values the firm at about $1.8 billion. (Reuters)

  • Work-Bench, a New York-based early-stage enterprise tech focused VC firm, raised $100 million for its third fund. (Forbes)

  • August 10: Virtual: How Tech Companies Expand Internationally, with Accel partner Rich Wong, Atomic founder in residence Swathy Prithivi, Asana head of global revenue Oliver Jay, and others. Hosted by Protocol. Register here.

  • August 11: Virtual: Fostering Innovation Post-COVID, with Refraction CEO Esther Lee, Company Ventures’ Urban Tech Hub executive director Robinson Hernandez, and others. Hosted by Savills. Register here.

  • August 17: Virtual: A Better Meeting, with Calendly chief product officer Annie Pearl, Mural CEO Mariano Suarez-Battan, and others. Hosted by Protocol. Register here.

  • October 6 – 7: In-Person: 2021 Propelify Innovation Festival, with Tech:NYC founder and executive director Julie Samuels, Capsule CEO Eric Kinariwala, Noom CEO Saeju Jeong, Bowery Farming CEO Irving Fain, and others. Hosted by TechUnited:NJ. Use code WeInventTheFuture to register for a free general admission ticket for a limited time here.

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