Local authorities manage and retain massive stores of data that involve a wealth of personally identifiable information (PII) on members of their community. These might be basics like names, dates of birth, postal and email addresses, or more intricate information like financial details.
Council communications via email, telephone and dedicated applications providing a help and advice platform also include instances of confidential data. Local authorities are also responsible for providing essential services to their boroughs, increasingly via digital means like informational websites and apps delivering guidance and assistance.
To protect this data and provide a seamless service to local people who need their assistance, it is vital that councils have adequate cybersecurity measures in place. While previously, it has fallen to local council to form their own protective strategies and solutions, an increasing number of local governments are working with cybersecurity professionals to develop protocols and adopt secure solutions.
Accessing a new skillset
The tactics and techniques of hackers are ever-evolving, with attackers quick to exploit any vulnerabilities exposed. In many cases, these complex threats are no longer easily answered by council admins and local IT teams and require more specialist assistance.
Threat intelligence, activity detection, protective monitoring, vulnerability scanning and asset ID management are all key areas cybersecurity solutions can offer to keep council systems functioning safely while remaining compliant.
Working in partnership for greater protection
Using a managed security service can support a council’s in-house team with their incident response protocols and guide them on the essential corrective actions to take if an incident occurs. In a report made by London’s Borough of Bexley last year, the council commented on threat levels recorded after deploying a system with assistance from cybersecurity experts.
“In a recent typical month, there were some 18 million possible security events, and from this about 2,000 alarms have been generated of which around six have been escalated via email and other means for further investigation, keeping Bexley cyber-safe.”
Many local authorities have found partnering with cybersecurity specialists to develop and implement a system an effective initiative. By combining the knowledge of operations their teams possess with the technical expertise of cybersecurity firms, local councils can forge stronger solutions that don’t hamper the way they serve their communities and keep their Borough’s safer.
A comprehensive data security solution for local government
At Galaxkey, our secure platform has been designed to answer the encryption needs of governments, universities, and enterprises of all sizes. Based on the onion model, our robust encryption has three powerful layers and meets the US Government standard. Simple to implement, drag-and-drop action delivers full encryption to email communications and their attachments, as well as documents at rest or being sent.
Our system has zero back doors, and no passwords are ever stored to promote premium levels of security that keep data safe. Contact us today to discuss how we can work with your internal team and test-drive our solution with a free trial.
