Cybersecurity and local government / Donald F. Norris, Laura Mateczun, Richard F. Forno.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Why local government cybersecurity? -- What is cybersecurity? -- Cybersecurity 101 for local governments -- What the literature tells us about local government cybersecurity -- Cyberattacks on local government -- Managing local government cybersecurity -- Cybersecurity policies local government s should adopt -- People: The root of the problem -- The NIST Framework demystified -- Cybersecurity law -- Important questions to ask -- The future of local government cybersecurity -- Summary and recommendations.

"This book begins with a simple question. Why examine cybersecurity among America's local governments? What's so special about these organizations that they deserve scrutiny? They are, after all, just organizations, and most, if not all organizations have certain similarities, especially the need to maintain effective levels of cybersecurity. The need for cybersecurity is demonstrated every day and is a common staple in the popular media. And, local governments do not differ, much if any, in the need for cybersecurity from organizations such as Microsoft, Target, Home Depot, J.P.Morgan Chase, the White House or many others. The similarity to which readers should be aware is that all of these organizations have been successfully hacked... as has a growing number of local governments"-- Provided by publisher.

About the Author
Donald F. Norris, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA. He retired from UMBC in 2017 after serving 27 years as Director of the Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research and 10 years as Director of the UMBC School of Public Policy. His fields of study include public management where he specializes in information technology in governmental organizations, including e-government and cybersecurity. Dr. Norris received an M.A. and a Ph. D. in political science from University of Virginia.

Richard F. Forno, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer in the UMBC Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, where he directs the UMBC Graduate Cybersecurity Program and serves as the Assistant Director of UMBC's Center for Cybersecurity. Prior to academia, his twenty-year career in operational cybersecurity spanned the government, military, and private sector in both technical and management roles, including helping build a formal cybersecurity program for the US House of Representatives, serving as the first Chief Security Officer for Network Solutions (then, the global center of the internet DNS system), consulting to Fortune 100 companies, and more. Dr. Forno's research interests, rooted in both cybersecurity principles and the humanities, explore the relationships between technology, security, and society in areas including information age conflict, risk communication, resiliency, and the social shaping of technology within networked organizations.

Laura Mateczun, Ph.D. student, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA is magna cum laude graduate from St. Mary's College of Maryland in 2011. Her dissertation analyzes local government cybersecurity from three perspectives utilizing data from the first ever nationwide survey on the issue, that she helped develop, administer, and analyze with a team of public policy and cybersecurity experts at UMBC and the International City/County Management Association.