Guides and Handbooks
Essentials of Data Security for Public Entities
Securing private data is a significant responsibility for local governments. Maintaining data security in the face of real threats, such as hackers, activists and employee errors, is a challenge that everyone in the organization must work to overcome.
Damages from data compromises and cyber-attacks to a public entity are often costly, both financially and nonmonetarily. Money is required to correct security issues, restore lost or damaged data, handle legal action and pay regulatory fines. The nonfinancial costs to a public entity can be damaging to an organization’s reputation, lowered morale and loss of the public’s trust.
It is best if your organization has a robust data security program and response plan established before an incident occurs. Now is the time to assess how strong your entity’s programs and plans are before an attack or data compromise happens. Using enterprise risk management methods, this guide is designed to assist in your efforts.
Guide to Internal Conversations, and Policy, Training Development
This guide is not intended to be, nor is it, a technical resource. Rather this guide should be used to stimulate conversations among your organization’s leadership and provide them with strategies to help your organization secure private data, whether it is electronic or paper in format.
Maintaining vigilance and being aware of new threats as they emerge is necessary for everyone within your organization. To this end, the guide includes key terms and vetted resources for individuals to consult for continuous and updated best practices.
Checkups are included with each chapter that provide an opportunity to determine which data security areas need improvement.
This resource should be shared at multiple levels within your organization, including information technology (IT) managers, elected board members, executive directors and administrators, department heads, managers, and others as appropriate (e.g., safety committee).
Information about policies and best practices for a variety of topics are included in this resource. As the threats to data security rapidly evolve and systems used by member organizations are varied, this guide often leaves specifics up to the information technology professionals within your organization.
The Guide’s Chapters
- Data Compromise and Cyber-Liability Coverage: Note that coverage discussed is for the current coverage year (January-December) and is subject to change with the new coverage year.
- Data Privacy Laws
- Incident Preparation and Response
- Data Storage and the Cloud
- Secure Physical Access and Data Storage Rooms
- Vendor Contracts
- Secure Destruction
- Malware and Ransomware
- Passwords
- Social Engineering
- Safe Browsing
- Secure E-mail Practices
- Mobile Devices
- Security Patches and Updates
- Training Employees and Officials
Use in Combination with the Cyber-security Self-assessment
The Cyber-security Self-assessment is a broad checklist that an organization uses internally to assist in identifying data security areas it needs to strengthen.
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