A Cybersecurity Leader Could be Appointed in Every US State

The United States is currently considering legislation to further protect local governments against attacks of the virtual nature, by requiring each state to appoint a cybersecurity leader. Much like businesses nowadays rely on Washington DC IT services,this cybersecurity leader will work to proactively deal with security threats instead of merely reacting to attacks, as they happen, as is often seen today. Should the newly proposed law come into effect, state and federal governments can benefit from improved intelligence sharing and faster incident response in case of cyberattacks. This will also help protect local governments from potential attacks of the same nature as earlier reported by or discovered in other locations.

Cybersecurity leaders will work closely with the Department of Homeland Security and its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is also tasked to appoint cybersecurity state coordinators—the role of which is multifaceted, including elements of advisory work, training, as well as program development. A cybersecurity leader and IT Service from Washington DC will also serve as principal federal cybersecurity risk officer or advisor who is tasked to coordinate efforts in order to prepare for and respond to, as well as to remediate cyberattacks. It is also their core responsibility to raise awareness of the technical, financial, and operational resources that are available to non-federal entities for these efforts.

Cybersecurity leaders and coordinators will likewise be expected to facilitate and support training, exercise, as well as planning for the continuity of local government operations and to expedite recovery from any cybersecurity incident, thus avoiding downtime for local government units. They may likewise be called on to assist non-federal entities when it comes to developing, implementing, and coordinating vulnerability disclosure programs that are consistent with federal as well as information security industry guidelines and standards. This proposed law is aimed at bolstering cybersecurity for local and state governments.