Study: 80 percent of elected officials don’t know if their state has cybersecurity incident plan

According to a study released on Monday by the Governing Institute, AT&T and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), 80 percent of elected and appointed officials say that they don’t know if their home state has a cybersecurity incident plan in place.

The survey included responses from a representative sample of state elected officials, along with their legislative staff members.

“The purpose of the survey was to examine current baseline cybersecurity knowledge of state elected and appointed officials in order to identify educational needs regarding this topic,” Todd Sandler, vice president of research for the Governing Institute, said. “We found that, although legislators know the risks are high, many are not as involved as they could be and significant cybersecurity gaps remain.”

While 83 percent of respondents agree that cybersecurity is a priority, many states are not as immersed in cybersecurity efforts as their legislators would like them to be. Even as cybersecurity becomes an increased priority for states, only 18 percent of those surveyed currently sit on a committee with cybersecurity as part of its official mandate. The survey notes that low levels of involvement may be exacerbated by a lack of state funding or qualified personnel.