The governor of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, issued an emergency declaration on July 24 in response to a series of cybersecurity breaches at local school districts. The emergency declaration enables the state government to share more resources to counter the breach.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation on July 25 that amends state data breach law by imposing more expansive data security and data breach notification requirements on companies.
The Syracuse City School District (SCSD) and Onondaga County Libraries, both in New York, were hit with a Ryuk ransomware earlier this month.
The Senate on July 8 unanimously approved the Defending the Integrity of Voting Systems Act, which was sponsored by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, has eliminated the Cybersecurity Officer position from her cabinet. Unlike most states, which are pouring additional funding into cybersecurity, Raimondo has cut all funding from the Cybersecurity Officer’s role, which was held by Mike Steinmetz since the position was created in 2017. The Cybersecurity Officer functions will be distributed among other state agencies, according to a published report.
The National Governors Association (NGA) published a report examining state cyber disruption response plans, and providing recommendations for state officials who want to create or review their own response plans.
The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) announced today that it endorsed S. 1846, the State and Local Government Cybersecurity Act of 2019.
Indiana University (IU) announced July 2 it is establishing the IU Cybersecurity Clinic that will address cyber threats with an emphasis on state and local organizations. IU said the clinic, which will serve as a Midwest hub for cyber training, is the only one of its kind focused on state and local cybersecurity.
Lake City, Fla., is the latest city to pay the ransom following a ransomware attack.
In Washington D.C.’s cybersecurity community (and the entirety of Federal IT), the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program is well known and evolving – a bold and necessary effort to centralize the management of cybersecurity tools, services, and reporting across the entire Federal civilian enterprise. Just four hours down Interstate 95, where CDM is not so well known, the government of North Carolina is making a strong case for state-level adoption of the CDM model to create greater network visibility and strengthen cybersecurity across the state system.
