Nevada OCIO pitches statewide public-facing single sign-on; agencies report early adoption and security benefits

The Office of the Chief Information Officer told the Joint Subcommittee on General Government it has launched a public-facing single sign-on identity service using Microsoft B2C and is promoting statewide adoption to reduce duplication, improve constituent experience and strengthen login security.

Sean Montero, chief of computing services, told the committee the product launched in February and said the state has seen “more than 80,000 new constituents” register for the single sign-on and “authenticated over half a million logins.” He said agencies that have adopted the system — including the Division of Welfare and Supportive Services in the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Motor Vehicles — use the service to provide multi-factor authentication and other protections they did not previously have.

State Chief Information Officer Timothy Galuzzi framed the work as part of a broader effort to reduce credential sprawl across executive-branch systems. “If you’re doing business with executive branch, you have 1 username, 1 password regardless of what agency you’re doing business with,” he said, adding that centralized multi-factor authentication reduces phishing and other compromise vectors.

Committee members asked about cost allocation, proofing (identity verification) and the potential cost savings. Montero said agencies currently perform identity “proofing” themselves — for example, DMV and Welfare use their own verification workflows — and that a statewide rollout could require engaging professional identity-proofing services for smaller agencies that lack capacity. The OCIO did not present a detailed per-agency cost comparison at the hearing; Director Galuzzi said cybersecurity incidents can be costly, estimating that incident response “could be to tune of 1.5 or 3 million dollars” to bring in external vendors for recovery, and arguing prevention and consolidated security are financially beneficial.

On funding, OCIO said the enhancement is proposed as an extension of its business-productivity suite and suggested the infrastructure assessment cost pool as the appropriate charge, while remaining open to staff conversations about alternative pools or user-based rates. Committee members asked OCIO to work with legislative and finance staff to clarify rate models and to provide more precise estimates of expected agency savings and potential third-party proofing costs.

No formal action was taken at the hearing. OCIO said it will continue outreach to other agencies, including the Secretary of State and the Department of Education, which have expressed interest in consolidating identity services.