| | DECEMBER 20198CIOReviewTHERE IS NO HARDER PLACE TO "DO CYBER SECURITY" THAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT.By Jill Fraser, Chief Information Security Officer, Jefferson CountyUnlike private sector companies, in local government we do not have a single line of business to support. Instead, we are supporting multiple lines of business, many of which have a direct impact on public safety: law enforcement and 911 centers, health and human services, transportation, building safety, coroner, elections, district attorneys, and utilities to name a few.Locals don't tend to be large enough entities to garner the sizable discounts our state, federal, educational and non-profit peers receive from vendors. Under the best circumstances, this makes acquiring security tools a significantly more expensive endeavor for local governments -- making our cyber security programs more expensive to develop and maintain. For many, it is a barrier to acquiring the technologies needed for a cyber security program.Local governments typically rely on existing staff to lead cyber security activities. This is often because budget is constrained and/or cyber has not been identified as something that requires a full-time effort within the organization. This often means there is a lone-cybersecurity-aware employee who works under another job title trying to move the dial on cyber security or there is no focus on cyber security at all.Local governments are numerous and of incredibly varied sizes. There are thousands of local governments in the United States ranging in size from the very large like the City of Los Angeles with 100,000+ employees to the small like Washington County in Colorado with under 200 employeesor the Town of Dinosaur with only 6 employees.IN MY OPINION
< Page 7 | Page 9 >