From: Government Technology
IT governance and cybersecurity are two of the most critical issues in government, which is why Los Angeles is combining them in its new cyber command center.
by Colin Wood
The Cyber Intrusion Command Center was born out of an executive directive by Mayor Eric Garcetti that called for a 24-hour operations center to monitor cyberthreats facing the Los Angeles area. The center is operated by the Los Angeles Police Department, but administrative members come from across city and federal agencies. The center, which launched in November 2013, isn’t just technology used to scan for threats, but is a way for city government to establish a more mature model for cybersecurity governance.
The command center concept began in October as weekly meetings between the chief information security officers of all the city’s departments. Cooperating with their counterparts from the U.S. Secret Service and FBI, the group gathers to discuss common threats, strategies and methods of neutralizing cybersecurity threats. The idea, CIO Steve Reneker said, is to make better use of the city’s staff and tools as it faces a growing number of cyberattacks.
Statistics on the number of cyberattacks aimed at Los Angeles were not available, but reports in recent years have shown an increase in the number of attacks facing the United States overall. IBM reported in April 2014 that 2013 saw a 12 percent increase in security events over the previous year, tallying more than 91 million events. The Verizon 2014 Data Breach Investigations Report analyzed more than 63,000 security incidents in 2013, an increase from 47,000 incidents reported the previous year.
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