Replies and Critical analysis needed

The Multi-State Information Sharing Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) is federally funded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and is composed of 1,000 local governments and 56 US States and territories (Lohrman, 2014).  Threat intelligence is an important facet in defending networks. If you can find out what methods the bad actors are doing, then it gives you time to prepare for those attacks and mitigate your network risks.

Risks are increasing and threats such as Advanced Persistent Threats (APT) simply outnumber the amount of resources a city could have. The amount of data that a city needs to secure is vast such as vital records, patient records, license applications, and more. In Utah, due to a week password 800,000 health records were stolen (Cybersecurity Handbook, 2012). As bandwidth increases, the amount of time it takes for hackers to steal data decreases. Cybersecurity will need to become even more effective in the amount of time to detect and isolate breaches.

Cities have limited resources to promote cybersecurity and should work with the MS-ISAC. To understand the significance of the benefits included, MS-ISAC provides a website to explain how it disseminates information.  The website msisac.cisecurity.org expounds on the benefits such as training bulletins, benchmarks, security controls and more. One of the most critical benefits is the real-time network monitoring that is open seven days a week and 24 hours a day (MS-ISAC, n.d.) Additionally, organizations can utilize the Malicious Code Analysis Platform to gain assistance in analyzing files.

Most will agree that with attacks increasing in both the amount of actors and the different emerging threats, information sharing is very important. A few different partnerships include the Cyber Security Research Alliance (CSRA), Microsoft, MITRE, and more. Cities can use a variety of resources to improve the defense of networks by reaching out to the several resources available.

 

 

 

Center for Internet Security. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://msisac.cisecurity.org

Cybersecurity Handbook for Cities & Counties [PDF]. (2012, December). Digital Communities. Retrieved July 04, 2016, from https://msisac.cisecurity.org/

Hall, A. (2015, February 03). Microsoft partners with cities and governments to improve cybersecurity for citizens. Retrieved July 04, 2016, from https://blogs.microsoft.com/cybertrust/ 2015/02/03/microsoft-partners-with-cities-and-governments-to-improve-cybersecurity-for-citizens/

Lohrman, D. (2014, September 21). MS-ISAC: Cybersecurity Collaboration is Needed Now More than Ever. Retrieved July 04, 2016, from http://www.govtech.com/blogs/lohrmann-on-cybersecurity/The-MSISAC-Story-More-Than-a-Decade-of-Growing-Membership-and-Influence.html

Partnership. (n.d.). Retrieved July 04, 2016, from https://www.mitre.org/capabilities/ cybersecurity/partnership

Working together to foster strategies for the research and development of transformative solutions to critical cyber security challenges, through partnerships among government, industry, and academia. (n.d.). Retrieved July 04, 2016, from http://www.cybersecurityresearch.org/