By Donald Borsay, Director of Security Solutions, HCH Enterprises

After a prolonged absence due to COVID-19 lockdowns and contract assignments, I was finally able to return to Boston’s Hynes Convention Center for SecureWorld Boston in late March. It was a great opportunity to reconnect with my New England peers, catch up on the latest products and best practices, and even share my thoughts on the next steps of threat intelligence.

I was reassured to see many of my long-lost friends on the speaker list and on the Advisory Council. One of my colleagues pointed out that I had spent two straight hours on the exhibit floor without moving, — as one longtime colleague departed another came. Each of us is busy working hard to tackle cyber risk.

I spent a significant amount of time on the exhibit floor or in special roundtable discussions within the Advisory Council. I learned a lot about the impact of artificial intelligence on cybersecurity and about the recent SEC rulings that may give the Board greater access to the chief information security officer (CISO). I also discovered new products and vendors that are ready to help in the battle for network security.

I had the privilege of leading a threat intelligence panel discussion on “The State of InfoSec Today.” The main takeaway: that with a clear vision, fewer false positives, and continued effort, we can eliminate threats. I offer special thanks to Katherine Chipdey and Jason Albuquerque for the answers and a packed, lively crowd that built upon the seed questions I offered. It takes a village!

When refining your InfoSec program, it’s important to consider how threat intelligence reveals your critical assets’ exposure. Also, be sure that asset vulnerability and remediation are equally prioritized within threat intelligence. If what you have lacks this clarity, seek the capability to add intelligence.

In the threat intelligence arena, it is important to derive both high-level strategic and operational information, as well as low-level technical and tactical information. The devil is in the evolving technical details, so it’s essential to integrate and transform other domains instead of creating threat management silos.

It’s been nearly two years since the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) — a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill including an allocation of $350 billion to help state, local, and tribal governments to address economic and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. While ARPA’s State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) dollars offer flexibility, it is important for all municipalities to have a plan in place, and the time to act is now — as cities and towns must obligate their funding by December 31, 2024.

How can municipalities spend SLFRF funds?

Cities and towns have many options for using their ARPA dollars. According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, there are four separate eligible use categories. Local governments may use SLFRF funds to:

• Replace lost public sector revenue, using this funding to provide government services up to the amount of revenue lost due to the pandemic.
  
• Respond to the far-reaching public health and negative economic impacts of the pandemic, by supporting the health of communities, and helping households, small businesses, impacted industries, nonprofits, and the public sector recover from economic impacts.
  
• Provide premium pay for essential workers, offering additional support to those who have and will bear the greatest health risks because of their service in critical sectors.
  
• Invest in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure, making necessary investments to improve access to clean drinking water, to support vital wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, and to expand affordable access to broadband internet.

More on SLFRF Rules and Regulations

As a municipality, it’s important to understand how you can use ARPA funding — but that’s only part of the equation. The more challenging element is determining how you should apply these dollars. 

The goal for any municipality should be to capitalize on this tremendous opportunity for recovery in ways that meet the most prevalent needs of the community. The challenges many cities and towns face is — identifying those needs, and assessing the most effective pathways to meet those needs. Many communities are developing recovery and growth plans that involve:

By Donald Borsay, Director of Security Solutions, HCH Enterprises

At HCH Enterprises, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to cybersecurity. While we all recognize the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements framed within the culture of a particular country, we likely lack a perspective on cybersecurity. As digital transformation takes over every aspect of our lives, the core enabler remains people. HCH knows how to bring cybersecurity into the culture of your business.

According to ISACA’s The Business Model for Information Security, culture is the first factor that makes cybersecurity part of everything we do. Culture improves through a steady emergence of process.  Management recognizes the culture gap and supports incremental advancement.  According to the Security Cultures Report from Tessian, the proper security culture directly impacts employee behavior. 

The people also use technology directly and must have the skills to support their access and instincts to know when something is wrong.  These human factors of technology must be part of the plan. As a result, our People embrace the use of technology and operate it securely by applying their newfound awareness and skills and by following policy and procedure where appropriate.

Sounds good, right?  Unfortunately, 45% of users don’t know who to report a security incident to and only 30% of employees believe they play a personal role in cybersecurity. We have so much work ahead of us!

Delivering on the promise of cybersecurity can be a daunting task for high-risk startups, small businesses, and local government when faced with the typical one-size-fits-all toolbox persisted by other providers. HCH’s approach is purposefully tailored to fit your culture.  We will partner in your journey to a more mature cybersecurity posture.