Government CIOs Praised for Pandemic Response, Better Collaboration Required

Government CIOs Praised for Pandemic Response, Better Collaboration Required

Collaboration with local governments and public higher education is critical to managing increasingly complex cyber-risk.


According to a new research document from Deloitte and the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO), as US state and local governments are top targets for ransomware and other cyber-attacks, they can benefit by working together. The report claimed that they are often a target for ransomware and other attacks and that there is “a value to having states build a collaborative relationship with local governments and institutions of public higher education.”


This can enable all parties to benefit from sharing knowledge and resources, and coordinating approaches. “Such a collaborative approach may offer considerable advantages in terms of cost efficiencies, better cyber-hygiene and culture, and improved security of citizens’ data,” the report said.


Reflecting on 2020, the report claimed the pandemic forced state governments to “act quickly in response to public health and safety concerns” and this led CISOs and their staff to support the increased demands for technology, enabling remote work “despite being severely constrained by the lack of resources for cybersecurity.”


It claimed security teams “worked closely with IT departments to secure the government enterprise, the virtual work environment, technology infrastructure and the supply chain.” The top cybersecurity challenge barriers to overcome cited were the following:


Lack of sufficient cybersecurity budget
Inadequate cybersecurity staffing
Legacy infrastructure and solutions to support emerging threats
Lack of dedicated cybersecurity budget
Inadequate availability of cybersecurity professionals

“Reinventing statewide operations overnight, moving quickly at scale, relying on available resources amplified the importance of ..

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