Cybersecurity is emerging as a new political issue at the Louisiana Capitol, Jeremy Alford writes in his latest column.
“For anyone who has a credit card or a Netflix account or a mobile banking app, it’s not an unfamiliar issue,” Alford says. “For lawmakers and administrators, however, the threat is fresh and ever-evolving.”
Data breaches and hacker mischief from the past several years have sent state governments scrambling to improve security practices, find money for insurance policies, push to move sensitive information behind firewalls and investigate computer crimes. Louisiana is no exception.
Over the past year the state Office of Risk Management has purchased cyber insurance for 65% of the agencies and departments it insures. The goal is to cover the rest of the agencies within the next two years, Jacques Berry, the Division of Administration’s communications director, tells Alford.
The insurance covers credit monitoring, legal fees and general liability. Each agency or department pays for the coverage out of their own budgets. But most haven’t needed to use their policies.
So far, Berry tells Alford, there’s only been one claim: a customer data breach at the Office of Group Benefits earlier this year affected fewer than 100 policyholders.
“In many ways, it’s just the beginning for Louisiana’s digital war,” Alford says.
But nationally at least 42 states have introduced more than 240 bills or resolutions this calendar year related to cybersecurity. Of that count, 27 states have enacted legislation.
“States have been treating the related policy proposals as public safety issues while trying to address concerns for both the government and the private sector,” he writes.
Earlier this year, the House and Senate approved a resolution, charging the Division of Administration with studying the “current status of mission critical information technology systems.” A report to lawmakers is due by Feb. 1.
“Depending on the findings, and how much is able to be made public, the report could in some small way transform the 2018 regular session into a cybersecurity session—which would be appropriate,” Alford says. “After all, in addition to taking our tax dollars, our state government guards our Social Security numbers, banking details and credit card information.”
Read the full column. Sarah Gamard contributed reporting for this column.
Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or on Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com. Sarah Gamard contributed reporting for this column.
