When you think about it, New Jersey is home to a lot of new and growing industries — whether it’s wind energy, online sports betting and, soon, recreational marijuana. We may be able to add another to that list. And that’s esports, or competitive video gaming. It’s rapidly growing in popularity and esports revenues are soaring too. The state wants to capitalize on that, so today, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority announced it will provide Stockton University with $200,000 to support an Esports Innovation Center.
The EDA says the center will provide new opportunities for New Jersey businesses and workers, and that some esports companies are already making investments here. The innovation center will work with private companies and universities, and there are plans to host hack-a-thons and other coding challenges.
The Colonial Pipeline company paid nearly $5 million to the hackers that shut down its pipeline, disrupting the nation’s fuel supply. That’s according to a Bloomberg report. Cyberattacks like this are on the rise, according to Rita Gurevich, the CEO of the Hoboken-based cybersecurity firm Sphere. She recommends all companies focus on what she calls basic cyber-hygiene — which includes looking at whether there’s adequate protection around internal data.
Finally a reminder, Monday is the deadline to file your 2020 tax returns. But if you’re expecting a refund you might not get it right away. There is a bit of a backlog at the moment, with returns taking more time to process this year compared with last.
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