It’s a truism but it’s true: In local government, all of the cybersecurity technology in the world won’t matter if an employee clicks on the wrong link in an email and exposes the network to ransomware.
Government employees need proper cybersecurity training, said Laurel Caldwell, IT director for Latah County, Idaho, because the “threat vectors are coming in through email, which is at every single desktop or on a cellphone with the employee.”
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Speaking alongside other officials at the National Association of Counties 84th Annual Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas, Caldwell noted that “all it takes is one bad click and your network is going to be down in some capacity.”
Jockel Carter, senior cybersecurity advisor at Tyler Technologies, said at the same meeting that county governments need to transition from a “bolt on” mentality around cybersecurity that sees it as a “necessary evil” to live with into a “baked in” approach that integrates cybersecurity into the organization’s mission.
Officials at the NACo conference stressed that cultural change, including…
