Security is a hot topic when it comes to municipalities these days, as cities across Canada, and the world, are increasingly the target for cyberattacks. In just the past year, an alarming number of Canadian municipalities have been subjected to cyberattacks.
Just a few of these include:
- Nation Municipality, ON, Jun 2019: Computer networks were illegally accessed and infected with ransomware.
- City of Burlington, ON, Jun 2019: Defrauded out of more than half a million dollars due to a phishing email.
- Ottawa City Hall, ON, until May 2019: Through to May of this year was subject to a total of 8,006 cyberattacks.
- City of Stratford, ON, Apr 2019: IT systems and data were held hostage as part of an online ransomware attack.
- St John, NB, Dec 2018: A malware attack exposed the names and credit card information of thousands of parking customers.
- And more….
Cyberattacks on cities can have serious consequences—from costly ransomware payments through to serious risks to public safety.
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Security Concerns Prevent Municipality Cloud Adoption
The Municipality IT department also suffers as a result of cyberattacks. Apart from the obvious reputational damage, cyberattacks also make key stakeholders wary of any new IT initiatives. In some cases, this prevents IT from introducing much-needed technology such as the cloud.
Recently the Center for Digital Government surveyed state and local government technology professionals to gauge their cloud ambitions and identify sticking points. Not surprisingly, security was a key issue. More than one-third of respondents indicated they do not fully understand or appreciate the security controls available in the cloud.
Despite security concerns, there is growing evidence that the cloud outperforms traditional IT when it comes to security. Organizations that move to the cloud benefit from infrastructure built to meet the requirements of the most security-sensitive organizations, as well as access to the latest security technology.
However, there are additional steps you must take to ensure your security, such as identity and access management, encryption and networking traffic protection.
Learn How to Overcome Cloud Security Concerns
We’ve teamed up with AWS to create a short presentation outlining the steps you need to take for secure cloud adoption. The session covers fundamental cloud security practices you need to undertake to protect your municipality and alleviate stakeholder security concerns.
Watch Now: Secure Cloud Adoption on AWS