Every day we hear of more municipalities and other public agencies being hit by cyber-attacks, including ransomware attacks. The effects of these criminal attacks can range from merely annoying to devastating. A good example is the city of Baltimore, which is still struggling to recover from a ransomware attack. In my work with the city of Atlanta in responding to and recovering from attacks on its systems, I have seen first-hand the impact of the attacks.
As municipalities continue to harden their frontline defenses against these types of attacks on their IT infrastructure, one area that should not be overlooked are public-private partnerships, as these are prime targets for criminals and others. In addition, criminals might feel that the partnerships are being overlooked and are not as well protected as governments move to strengthen their main systems.