Cybersecurity

NYSAC recently hosted a virtual training session focused on phishing prevention. The webinar addressed the growing rise of phishing attacks, which are deceptive attempts by cyber criminals to impersonate trusted individuals or organizations in order to gain fraudulent access to money and/or sensitive information.

NYSAC published the new report featuring the top technology challenges facing counties, including workforce, cybersecurity, IT governance, intergovernmental service sharing, funding and grants, and transitioning to dot gov.

Every day, municipalities are at risk from increasingly sophisticated and frequent cyber attacks and continually evolving vulnerabilities. Local governments—like other organizations— must spend time and resources devising ways to reduce a range of cyber-related risks that could significantly disrupt their operations.

In the past three years, counties and local governments with cybersecurity insurance have seen their premiums increase to double or triple the rates they were paying in 2019. At the same time, they found they were paying more for less.

This Primer is designed as a tool to help you build your own understanding and capabilities so that you can work with your IT and security leaders to assess and manage your county’s cyber risks.

The cybersecurity threats to our governments cannot be understated. Breaches are happening right here in New York. Hackers are trying to access your systems right now, as you are reading this Primer. They are sending emails to county employees, they are looking for vulnerabilities in your website, and they are looking for ways into your databases.

Counties, Mayors, Towns and UAlbany collaborate on cybersecurity guide for county leaders. 

The purpose of this document is to provide non-technical leaders with an unofficial, yet useful, “quick reference” of definitions of select cybersecurity terminology to support their understanding of the cybersecurity environment.