Cybersecurity for State & Local Government

There are many crucial steps to preventing a cybersecurity attack, but one tool that can especially strengthen your defense against a cyberattack is appointing a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). An appointed CISO is dedicated to protecting your data from a breach and reduces your risk. 

Unfortunately, the only obstacle that many small towns and schools face with appointing a CISO to protect valuable data is the cost of hiring a chief officer position. Many cities cannot afford to attract and retain the talent needed to ensure comprehensive oversight. According to Salary.com the average salary for a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) is $220K annually, with $268K in total compensation, and that’s IF you can find someone in your area with the skills for the job.

Then there's this: Out of every major industry, guess which one ranks as all-time worst in cybersecurity? Education. Schools collect and digitize incredible amounts of sensitive student data but haven’t taken the necessary steps to protect it. Hackers know that schools underestimate security needs and usually pass them off to an already overloaded it team.

Rest easy with the ThreatAdvice Breach Prevention Platform with the assurance that you have an overarching solution to oversee all of your data security needs. The ThreatAdvice Breach Prevention Platform is our flagship software solution that provides oversight into all of your cybersecurity needs. If you have a cybersecurity issue, ThreatAdvice will alert you and advise as to what action you need to take, but more importantly ThreatAdvice ensures that the proper solutions and protocols are in place so that the likelihood of a cybersecurity event is significantly reduced. The ThreatAdvice Breach Prevention Platform provides employee cybersecurity training and education, intelligence on potential cyber threats and a comprehensive cybersecurity monitoring solution delivered through our proprietary dashboard.

Your Breach Prevention Platform dashboard allows you to communicate securely with your ThreatAdvice team, access completed reports and policies, view upcoming and completed tasks and more. All of your security information is warehoused in one place with oversight and interpretation from your dedicated ThreatAdvice team. You can protect your town’s important data at a fraction of the cost with the ThreatAdvice Breach Prevention Platform.

Some government funding may be available for cybersecurity oversight, and ThreatAdvice would be glad to help you outline a roadmap for how these funds could best be utilized to protect your organization.

Cybercriminals of today often tread the path of least resistance, and many times they find that cities, states and schools are that path. One state’s Department of Revenue recently sustained a security breach that affected 3.8 million taxpayers who had their social security numbers exposed, along with other sensitive personal information. This attack was traced to a single “phishing” email delivered to a government employee that allowed hackers to access the state’s computer network. Long story short, this one government employee clicking on one malicious email cost the state as much as $12 million in credit monitoring services, not to mention other costs that stemmed from the attack.

And what about the attack on one major city in Georgia in 2018? That single attack cost the city over $2.8 million to restore the city’s operations while some departments still remain hobbled by an attack that occurred after years of warnings about vulnerabilities in the city’s system. Some city employees went a full five days without being able to use their computers.

Municipalities and schools have control over millions of records containing sensitive personal information. These entities also typically have tight budgets and are reluctant to increase spending on cybersecurity. However, they must conduct themselves just as any other business when it comes to cybersecurity by recognizing the threat exists and by preparing for breach avoidance, breach mitigation, and breach recovery. Good cybersecurity education and comprehensive cybersecurity oversight go a long way in helping municipalities and schools meet these goals.