Survey: Local, State Gov CIOs Underprepared For Attacks

Only about half of state and local government CIOs polled in a recent survey said they’re prepared for a cyber-attack — even as 28 percent of them reported experiencing a system hacking or attack attempt in the previous year.

While a majority of the 36 state and local government CIOs told the Consero Group’s Government IT survey that they had necessary infrastructure in place, about 42 percent said they found the systems vulnerable to security breaches and cyber threats, and 44 percent said they don’t feel prepared for such attack.

“Insufficiently secure information networks of state and local governments create the potential for major crises ranging from identity theft to inaccessibility of the public to government services,” Consero CEO Paul Mandell said in a media release. “Governments must defend themselves and their constituents against any forms of data-security beaches.”