How county officials can elevate the cybersecurity discussion with CISOs

Rita Reynolds, CIO at the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, and Steve Hurst, director of safety and security strategies at AT&T, advised county leaders how to prevent and work through real-life cyber security threats during a discussion on Sunday afternoon.

“If you don’t have a template and cyber security response plan already in place, that should be the first thing on your list,” Reynolds told the group. If a county is unsure how to create such a plan, they should look to their state association for guidance.

Hurst also agreed that it is vital for counties to have a written, detailed plan ready to go in case of a cyber-attack. He advised that county commissioners should determine which department’s data is the most valuable and prioritize its protection.

One smart way to do this by hiring a third party group to perform a risk assessment of your county’s data and determine where the biggest threats are.

It’s not a matter of if there is a breach, it’s a matter of when,” Hurst said. “Figure out the steps you will take so you can go immediately into a data disaster recovery plan the second there is a breach.”

Hurst and Reynolds also discussed the importance of attracting a retaining a strong IT workforce in local governments. The number of people qualified to be in the tech workforce is currently greater than the amount of available jobs in the tech industry, so strong employees may be difficult to keep.

Millennials currently make up about half of the workforce, a number that is probably bigger in the IT sector, and they especially value work flexibility. Both Hurst and Reynolds advised that allowing for a flexible work environment, with the ability to work from home, can help retain these younger workers.