Computers, networks and digital data continue to play larger roles in the lives of Americans. But protecting those resources we've become to depend on comes at a cost. Federal funding aims to help municipalities stay ahead of the risks, which are often described as moving targets.
Officials say nearly $6 million in grant money will help reduce cyber risk and build cyber resiliency for local governments across New York.
“There is an attack one day, you figure out how to protect yourself and then the next day, it changes,” said Warren County IT Director Michael Colvin.
But there is a trend and it involves data you would think is not valuable to others.
“Everybody wants to hold your data hostage so they can get you to pay to get it back,” Colvin explained.
Being in possession of so much of our sensitive information, local governments and their technology are being preyed upon.
“We deal with the public. We deal with so many people,” Colvin said. “How do you know the right person, from the wrong person?”
He said security measures have doubled his budget over the past six or seven years.
“We’re constantly on the lookout and we under the guise we’ve been hacked,” he said. “We protect ourselves going in. We protect ourselves going out.”
The state is stepping in, directing federal grant money to expand access to multi-factor authentication, bolstering the IT and cybersecurity workforce via scholarships and offering more training to people working for local municipalities.
“The state’s taking the initiative of doing one thing and having it filter down to everybody,” Colvin said. “They did that with the CrowdStrike, with the antivirus, so it’s one platform coming down, watching the state as a whole to see if there are anomalies going on.”
The risks are not unique to Warren County. Cybersecurity was a topic at a recent New York State Association of Counties conference in Albany.
“Local governments are the most vulnerable because usually, they are the least staffed and cyber is indiscriminate,” said Joseph Davidson of Deloitte, a risk advisory consultant.
County officials from across the state heard from experts who said in addition to insufficient staffing and small budgets, poor communication is often hindering cybersecurity.
“Each person within a government are important,” Davidson said. “And understanding your role and responsibilities are and how they overlap with other people and sharing that information, that’s the biggest problem.”
The group applauds the state’s investment, with more than 25% of it allocated to government bodies in rural areas.
“It’s probably nowhere near what it’s going to take to make sure we’re robust enough to survive this,” said Madison County Director of Emergency Management Dan Degear. “But anything is a good help. So it’s a good start.”
With the evolving cybersecurity concerns, Gov. Kathy Hochul has also proposed new hospital cybersecurity regulations and further security improvement to the state’s energy grid.