By Guest Author: Frank Ury, Santa Margarita Water District Director and Former Mayor of Mission Viejo
For decades, federal and state officials have grappled with a growing “digital divide” – the technological disparity that exists between communities that have resources and those that do not. Disproportionate resources impact people’s access to high-speed internet, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Individuals without access to computers and the internet are less able to take part in today’s economic, political, and social life. Impacts are often felt most significantly by children and the elderly.
As local, state and federal entities make progress on closing the digital divide, they are having to cope with more and more devices, which are creating a hotbed of data issues. National and international threat actors have found this to be an opportunity for ransomware. The recent increase in cyberattacks introduces a new category of disparity – cybersecurity. In other words, a cyberattack can have a greater negative impact on the safety and protection of disadvantaged communities. Hackers and cyber terrorists are now understanding that the larger and more wealthy agencies are already strongly defending themselves, leaving smaller and underprivileged agencies even more vulnerable.
Legislative leaders must address this challenge that impacts cities, counties, school districts, water districts, and tens of thousands of other districts nationwide: cyber equity.
Equal Access to Cybersecurity Protections
Equity in access to robust cybersecurity should be a right for all agencies in California, large or small, wealthy, or disadvantaged. In today’s society, there is no reason why some government agencies should have less cybersecurity protection than others due solely to their local economics or financial challenges. The advent of newer Security-as-a-Service (SECaaS) offerings give policy makers the tools they need to create funding and technology recommendations to strengthen agencies across the state.
To create equitable funding, leaders must work together to set a base floor for all agencies to receive funds that specifically address their cyber needs. New cybersecurity funding from federal and state governments creates a perfect opportunity to facilitate this equity. For example, legislators could allocate $150/year per device and employee to be protected in each agency. The cost for these protections - $12 per month per device - is a small price to pay for protecting the personal, billing, financial and confidential information that all school districts, cities, water districts, etc. exchange with their constituents daily.
Security-as-a-Service Levels the Playing Field
The SECaaS model allows agencies to contract with cybersecurity companies with little or no upfront cost and proceed on a “pay by consumption” basis, allowing cities, water districts, school districts and other agencies to scale their cybersecurity efforts up or down as needed. Managed detection and response (MDR) solutions are tailored for just such scenarios. According to Gartner, “By 2025, 50% of organizations will be using MDR services for threat monitoring, detection and response functions that offer threat containment capabilities.” This allows agencies to monitor their systems continuously, repel threats and automatically respond to attacks, without requiring large staffing commitments.
Agencies can also work together by forming Joint Power Authorities (JPAs), which are regional agreements among several agencies to collectively procure services, such as cybersecurity solutions. This allows for collaborative planning, technology evaluation tailored to industry best practices, and, most importantly, volume purchasing to get the best possible pricing.
Cyber equity is imperative as we move forward together. Over 3,500 public agencies in California are relying on our legislative leaders to protect their data and the systems upon which their constituents rely. As we all work to cross the “digital divide,” we must make sure we are safe on the other side.
#FeatureNews