[BreachExchange] Senate advances bill promoting stronger cybersecurity coordination between DHS, state and local governments

[Destry Winant]

https://homelandprepnews.com/stories/40309-senate-advances-bill-promoting-stronger-cybersecurity-coordination-between-dhs-state-and-local-governments/

With the advancement of U.S. Sens. Gary Peters’ (D-MI) and Rob
Portman’s (R-OH) State and Local Government Cybersecurity Act, the
Senate has signaled encouragement to federal authorities to coordinate
better with state and local governments.

“State and local governments with limited resources and cybersecurity
expertise can struggle to secure their systems against malicious
hackers that could expose their constituents’ personal data,” Peters
said. “I’m pleased the Senate passed my bipartisan bill that will help
ensure all levels of government can bolster their defenses and protect
themselves from sophisticated cyber-attacks.”

The bill specifically calls for the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) to promote stronger cybersecurity cooperation through greater
information sharing on cybersecurity threats, vulnerabilities, and
breaches. This cybersecurity act also calls for a greater sharing of
resources between them to bolster efforts at prevention and recovery.

For state and local governments, this comes at an increasingly trying
time, as they find themselves frequently targeted by high-profile
cyber-attacks. The costs are adding up, both monetarily and in terms
of privacy. Unlike their federal counterparts, they lack the funding
flexibility to do much about it, though they have mounds of data on
their citizens. Major cities like Atlanta and Baltimore have weathered
attacks, but so too have states: Colorado’s Department of
Transportation were attacked earlier this year, and so were multiple
agencies within Louisiana as they waited on the results of a
gubernatorial race.

Many of these assaults are ransomware attacks — digital strikes used
to demand money from their victims. Lansing, Mich., suffered a similar
attack in 2016, in which its Board of Water & Light had to pay $25,000
to regain access to its systems. That does not include the hundreds of
thousands it had to pay out for a proper emergency response.

The State and Local Government Cybersecurity Act would permit local
access to improved security tools, policies, and procedures, and
encourage the collaboration of resources.