WEEK 5 AND 6 DISSCUSSION. Week 5: Background Briefing: How will the Governor’s I

WEEK 5 AND 6 DISSCUSSION.
Week 5: Background Briefing: How will the Governor’s Initiatives Improve Cybersecurity for the State’s Critical Infrastructures?
For the week 5 discussion we transition from federal to state critical infrastructure.
You are working for the Chief of Staff (CoS) for a newly elected Governor. The governor asked the CoS to research and prepare a 5- to 7-paragraph background briefing (backgrounder) that addresses the below question. The CoS will use this background briefing to prepare the Governor and his appointed cybersecurity director as they answer questions from the press and general-public.
You are not answering the questions as the governor, rather you are providing the governor the information s/he needs to answer the question.
The question: As governor, how will your administration improve cybersecurity for the state’s Critical Infrastructures?
The CoS asked you to research and prepare a draft for the background briefing. Your draft must provide enough information that the CoS and the Governor understand key terms that you use in your explanations. To that end, your draft briefing must answer the following questions:
What is meant by “cybersecurity” for critical infrastructures?” Give examples of critical infrastructure associated with a specific state.
What is meant by “Threats” (i.e. individual hackers, politically motivated hacktivists, criminal enterprises, and unfriendly “nation state” actors), countermeasures, and safeguards? Explain technical terms and examples.
What are the three most important actions that the governor’s administration should take to help improve the security of critical infrastructures in the state? (You should identify and discuss these in greater detail than your response to the first two bullet points.)
Provide in-text citations and references for 3 or more authoritative sources. Put the reference list at the end of your posting.
Week 6: Partnerships for Improving State and Local Government Cybersecurity
Before you begin, read this report: National League of Cities (Click the Download Report link at the bottom of the page)
Prepare a briefing statement (3 to 5 paragraphs) for a group of state government employees and local government city managers who are interested in learning more about the benefits of working together with peers in government to improve their organization’s cybersecurity posture.
These employees and managers are not all technically savvy so ensure that laymen can understand your statement. This audience’s specific interest is in obtaining help in preventing data breaches since state agencies and city governments collect, process, transmit, and store large amounts of private information about individuals. This private information might include:
Student Records (K-12)
Online Reservation & Payment Systems for Parks & Recreation Facilities
Hospitals (Patient Records)
Vital Records (Birth / Death Certificates)
License Applications (Marriage, Business, Driver’s Licenses)
Building Permits (including architectural drawings and property information)
Your briefing statement should answer the following two questions:
Will working with peer government organizations, e.g. through regional or national partnerships, help reduce risks and improve a small agency’s cybersecurity practices? Why or why not?
Who else could each city partner with to reduce the risks and impacts of data breaches?
Additional Resource: https://www.cisecurity.org/ms-isac/services
Provide in-text citations and references for 3 or more authoritative sources. Put the reference list at the end of your posting.