Back to Perspectives
Articles

Make Cyber Security Awareness Your #1 New Year’s Resolution

dark-blue-abstract-modern-background

The MGO Technology Group conducted a Cyber Security Survey with the League of California Cities Annual Conference attendees as well as with State and Local Government clients. We did this to check the pulse of what city officials are most concerned about when it comes to cyber security. You may be surprised by what we found.

The most interesting results from this survey indicate the majority of government agencies have NOT received Cyber Security Awareness training in the last year. This highlights an overwhelming need for the implementation of strong cyber security awareness programs in the government sector.

The results went on to show that barely half of the organizations have a cybersecurity awareness program in place at all, and of those that do, 58% haven’t received awareness training in over a year.

When asked to rate their top three risks agencies face today, your peers are mostly concerned about phishing and ransomware attacks at a combined percentage of 51.72%. It’s worth noting these risks can be significantly reduced when an awareness program is implemented. A lack of awareness is also evident with only half of those surveyed stating they would be able to recognize a security incident.

We’ve saved the most intriguing results for last. There’s actually enormous uncertainty about whether there is an Incident Response Plan, let alone any plan, in place to recover, should a breach occur. Communication across departments isn’t occurring.

Moreover, the majority of those polled tell us that senior leadership isn’t actively involved in agency cyber security programs.

As we welcome in the New Year why not commit some time on your calendar for more conversations and increased awareness about the business risks that face your city? Engage with the city leadership in identifying additional ways to increase the level of awareness for everyone.

We have a dedicated team of cyber and information security experts that can help you by creating a custom program - whatever the size of your organization - that will greatly improve your security posture. We can assist with security awareness programs, conduct threat assessments, review 3rd party vendor risks, or even create detailed Business Continuity and Incident Response Plans to transform your city into a cyber secure one. Let us partner with you in minimizing your vulnerabilities. What we can’t do is stop a cyber attack once it’s already been launched.

Make Cybersecurity Awareness charts cybersecurity01
Make Cybersecurity Awareness charts cybersecurity02
Make Cybersecurity Awareness charts cybersecurity03
Make Cybersecurity Awareness charts cybersecurity04