Attorney General Jackley, Dakota State University Announce Vendor Awards for Statewide Secure Email System

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, Sept. 8, 2025

Contact: Tony Mangan,Attorney General's Office, 605-773-6878

Mike Waldner, Dakota State University, 605-295-0821

PIERRE, S.D. - South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley and Dakota State University (DSU) today announced the three selected vendors for the Secure Email Solution, a critical component of the SecureSD initiative designed to protect local governments from cyber threats.

Following a competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) process, nine proposals were submitted from across the nation. With support from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), SecureSD Advisory Council members and Dakota State University cybersecurity experts, three vendors have been selected to offer secure, government-compliant level of secure email services to participating cities, counties, and municipalities across South Dakota:

• Infotech Solutions, LLC
• Riverside Technologies, Inc.
• Twotrees Technologies, LLC

These vendors will support the deployment and management of a government level secured email system for local government entities, including law enforcement, elected officials, internal communications, and public-facing departments. Not only will this solution provide secure encrypted email but additional cybersecurity enhancements such as multi-factor authentication, and phishing email campaigns to continue to keep our local government employees cyber aware by training the human firewall.

"In today's digital age, strong cybersecurity protections are not optional, they are essential," said Attorney General Marty Jackley. "We're proud to support this initiative that enables South Dakota local governments to protect citizen data and communicate securely without relying on public email platforms."

The Secure Email Solution will provide encrypted communications, secure calendaring, global address listings, phishing protection, and mobile-friendly access-all designed with government cybersecurity standards in mind. The platform will also incorporate real-time threat detection, automated investigations, and simulated phishing capabilities to keep systems resilient.

"This solution directly addresses one of the most exploited cyberattack vectors-email," said Dr. Ashley Podhradsky, Vice President for Research and Economic Development at DSU. "We're proud to partner with the Attorney General's Office and CISA to help local governments select, from a pool of vendors, who they wish to work with to secure their communications."

The proposals submitted were reviewed based on quality, technical expertise, and capacity to serve entities of varying size and IT sophistication. The awarded vendors met the rigorous technical standards outlined in the RFP and will begin onboarding, implementation, and training on the new system in the coming weeks.

"With these selected vendors, we're creating a safer communication environment for local governments that's scalable, secure, and easy to use. Now there is no excuse for any city or county not to have secured communications," said Mike Waldner, Director of SecureSD at Dakota State University.

Participating cities, counties, and municipalities can now work with SecureSD to select a vendor from the approved list. Onboarding to the new system will continue throughout the remainder of the program.

Through the partnership between the Attorney General's Office and DSU, and with the support of 2024 SB 187, the SecureSD initiative is taking proactive steps to enhance cybersecurity for South Dakota's municipalities and counties, ensuring safer digital environments for their communities. More information about the SecureSD initiative can be found at https://madlabs.dsu.edu/securesd/ or contact Waldner at [email protected] or 605-295-0821.

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