Cyberattacks on local governments are on the rise — and for good reason.
"They're target-rich and cyber-poor," explained Michael Klein, senior director for preparedness and response at the Institute for Security and Technology, a non-profit security think tank in Oakland, Calif.
"Local governments hold all kinds of data that criminals want — social security numbers, health data, kids' data, payment systems — and often those are only defended by small government levels of security," he told TechNewsWorld.
Local government agencies typically have more people wearing multiple hats for a variety of reasons, including budget and staffing constraints, noted Ashley Knowles, a senior cybersecurity consultant at Black Hills Information Security, a penetration testing, red teaming, and threat hunting company in Spearfish, S.D.
"So it can be harder to patch systems against security issues, stay ahead of current cybersecurity trends, and ensure business continuity should systems be affected by an attack," she told TechNewsWorld.
