MRSC Insight Blog

Posts for Cybersecurity

Understanding and Defending Against Distributed Denial of Service Attacks

May 9, 2022 by Stevens Fox
Category: Cybersecurity , Guest Author

This guest blog focuses on Distributed-Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, including how to identify them, types of attacks, and some tips on protecting your mission-critical services against them.

Local Governments Now Required to Have Data-Sharing Agreements

October 21, 2021 by Eric Lowell
Category: New Legislation and Regulations , Cybersecurity

Local governments will share data with other agencies for a variety of reasons. ESSB 5432 now requires agencies to have data-sharing agreements for highly sensitive data, such as HIPAA information or any information that is protected from release/disclosure by law.

Cybercrime: A Hard Lesson

April 22, 2021 by Eric Lowell
Category: Cybersecurity

This blog looks at precautions a local government can take to counter vendor fraud perpetrated by cyber criminals.

Emerging Issues Roundup: Post-Pandemic Prognostications

April 1, 2021 by Byron Katsuyama
Category: Termination and Retirement , Information Technology , Cybersecurity

This blog focuses on three issues that may become more prominent for local governments as we approach the end of the COVID-19 pandemic: cybersecurity concerns, maintaining digital services, and retiring boomers.

Being Cyber Aware in the Age of COVID-19

April 8, 2020 by Tracy Burrows
Category: Cybersecurity , COVID-19

This blog posts looks at cyber threats that have taken advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic and offers tips for local governments to help protect their resources.

Cyber Response and Insurance

October 22, 2019 by Laura Crandall
Category: Cybersecurity

How should your agency prepare itself for a cyberattack? This blog post looks at the role an emergency plan and cyber insurance can play in helping an agency recover from a cyber incident.

Cyber Plans: What to Do If Your System Is Attacked

October 4, 2019 by Laura Crandall
Category: Cybersecurity

This blog is the first installment of a 2-part series on cybersecurity preparation, with a focus on the most popular ways criminals are using to gain access to systems and how to plan for a service interruption.

Electronic Vendor Fraud: How to Protect your Agency from the Latest Cybercrimes

August 26, 2019 by Laura Crandall
Category: Cybersecurity

Ransomware, phishing schemes, and plain old hacking are just a few of the cybersecurity issues that local governments must contend with now. This blog covers the most recent electronic vendor fraud cases and the steps that your agency can take to protect itself against this type of fraud.

Big Cybersecurity for Small Jurisdictions

June 1, 2017 by Mike Kaser
Category: Cybersecurity , Guest Author

Cybersecurity is complicated. Guest author Mike Kaser suggests that the best place to start is to determine what can be done within the current resources and skill sets of your organization, then decentralize the risk beyond IT.

Don’t Get Hacked - Cybersecurity Basics

May 24, 2017 by Lynn Nordby
Category: Cybersecurity

You don’t have to be an information technology (IT) professional to be a soldier in the cybersecurity war. This blog post looks at some basic steps that anyone, or any worksite, can implement.

Tips for Local Governments in the Aftermath of the WannaCry Ransomware Attack

May 15, 2017 by Leah LaCivita
Category: Cybersecurity

The WannaCry cybersecurity attack is making news for worm-like behavior that allows it to spread across networks, infecting connected systems without user interaction. All it takes is for one infected user to put a whole network at risk. Here are some tips for local governments on how to combat it.