Welcome to my new newsletter, and thank you for subscribing! My goal is to share some of the knowledge I’ve gained over the past few years delivering better IT and Cybersecurity results to local government agencies in Texas.
City Government Leaders have many challenges when it comes to cybersecurity.
I’ve had many discussions with City Managers and other City leaders over the past few years, and a common refrain has been: “Cybersecurity is the responsibility of IT”, or “I thought that was included in our contract?”. However, we’re starting to see changes in this philosophy, primarily due to the increasing risks and high-profile breaches that have been in the news recently.
With that in mind, here are some practical tips…
- Change your mindset. You can’t afford to make assumptions when it comes to cybersecurity. You have to be intentional about educating yourself, learning the terminology and acronyms, understanding the risks, and engaging with your partners and vendors to ensure you are protected.
- When considering your internal IT, it’s not fair to look for them to be cybersecurity experts. A typical City government agency has 1 IT person for every 40-60 employees. In the world of day to day IT operations, there are many hats to wear, such as end user support, IT vendor management, platform support (backups, patching, antivirus management, etc.), budgeting and planning, amongst others. And, that’s before you get to cybersecurity! Wearing many hats makes it difficult to develop cybersecurity skills. Pro Tip: Contract with a managed cybersecurity vendor to help supplement.
In Part 2, you’ll learn more tips on how to become a Cybersecurity Focused City Leader. Can’t wait till Part 2? Click HERE to schedule a free 30 minute Local Government Cybersecurity Discovery Call.