The benefits of today’s technology are mesmerizing: endless entertainment, encyclopedic information at our fingertips, gratifying convenience, and 24/7 conversations with family, friends … and strangers.

Technology is baked into our daily rituals and interactions. It is so quick, accessible and affordable that we forget that it is not accountable. The same speed and convenience it offers us also opens a world of opportunity to scammers, criminals and fraudsters in the blink of an email.

Online streaming news services and social media links carry daily reports of companies and government agencies hacked, personal accounts ransomed and vital financial information leaked. The struggle and cost of rebuilding in the aftermath of a breach, hack or ransom are high. Yet the benefits of technology outweigh our concerns. We place a lot of trust in things that become routine. But with trust comes the responsibility to verify.

Vigilance is key

This issue of MOVE Magazine gives readers insight into just two of the ways AAMVA is exercising that vigilance: the member-driven Working Group on Internet Vehicle Sales and from a systems view, cloud migration. These are just two of the myriad strategies our members and association use to manage the capability and convenience of technology while instilling the controls and conscience that only humans can bring to the benefits of enhanced technology.

The working group on Internet Vehicle Sales brought significant knowledge to the table from jurisdiction and industry members alike to describe an invisible and intricate industry of online vehicle sales. The ease and speed of online access give consumers instant gratification at finding the “perfect” vehicle at a “real deal.” These same qualities—lack of physical infrastructure, traceability and speed—make it difficult for DMV officials and investigators to locate the sellers or transaction records when that dream car turns into a refurbished nightmare.

Through advances in technology and personal mobile devices, vehicle buyers and sellers consider the internet an essential service, and a robust sale of vehicles over the internet is here to stay. Through hard work and collaboration, the working group produced guidelines and best practices to help public agencies protect consumers and themselves in the virtual trading space for a physical asset.

The next wave of tools for protecting agency data and IT systems includes cloud technology. In this issue, several jurisdictions describe their experience migrating to the cloud and offer helpful insights about their journey getting there.

For AAMVA, our planned migration to the cloud, initiated in 2016, comprises a series of projects that aim to improve the security, availability and flexibility of the applications and networks AAMVA’s members rely on for service. AAMVA’s remarkable IT team works hard to exceed 99.5% service level availability across our systems and to keep them secure. Done right, the cloud enables continued assurance of availability, less intrusive repair time and higher security for IT applications and networks.

I hope you enjoy this issue of MOVE—it will give you food for thought and information to nourish robust services and healthy systems.

Anne Ferro

AAMVA President and CEO