John Gray, CPO at InterVision, discusses the ongoing threat of ransomware for state and local governments, what these officials can do to prepare better themselves, and how to respond if attacked.
Historically, government organizations have faced fewer attacks than their peers in other industries. But state and local governments have become a popular target for ransomware attacks over the last two years — nearly half of all ransomware in 2020 targeted municipalities.
A recent audit of local governments and courts revealed that many municipalities hadn’t deployed necessary cybersecurity defenses like offsite data backups, routine vulnerability testing, and robust user authentication. The report also detailed that problematic but standard cyber practices like password sharing expose essential government operations to malware. Equally concerning, most municipalities haven’t created a cohesive disaster recovery plan. So, governments aren’t equipped to handle the damaging aftermath even when a breach occurs.
This state of affairs is troublesome because municipalities are becoming increasingly popular targets for ransomware. Of all attacks that…
