Security a top priority for US state CIOs in 2017

The US National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO) will focus its advocacy efforts for 2017 on four key issues, including intergovernmental partnerships on cybersecurity.

The association’s four-pronged federal advocacy agenda for the year ahead will also focus on flexibility in federal funding regulations that encourage migration from legacy systems to cloud services and encouraging information sharing between agencies to improve the effectiveness of services offered to citizens and implementation of state plans.

The final pillar of the agenda involves the implementation of state plans for FirstNet, an independent authority charged with building and operating the National Public Safety Broadband Network for first responders.

“NASCIO’s 2017 advocacy priorities reflect the ways in which state CIOs hope to work collaboratively with the federal government,” NASCIO President Mark Raymond said.

“Chief among these priorities is cybersecurity. Protecting public networks and reducing the risk to the digital assets of citizens and government is a shared mission across all levels of government and it is our hope that our federal partners will work with state CIOs to achieve a more secure cybersecurity posture.”

Raymond said NASCIO’s 2016 Cybersecurity Study indicates that the biggest challenge to cybersecurity faced by state CISOs involves insufficient budgets.

State CISOs also report that compliance with numerous federal security regulations redirects already scarce resources to compliance activity instead of projects that would actually enhance cybersecurity.

Image courtesy US Govt.

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