State Officials Benefit from Cybersecurity Training Offered by the National Cybersecurity Center

Following the sponsorship from American multinational technology company Google, by the end of the year, The National Cybersecurity Center, a Colorado Springs-based think tank will offer free online cybersecurity training to legislators and statehouse staff in all states.

The center’s director of business and government initiatives Forrest Senti announced the Cybersecurity Center’s intention is to launch the 60-90-minute live and on-demand training sessions beginning in May to help legislators and their staff prevent cyberattacks via its new Cybersecurity for State Leaders program. Most states are expected to complete the training by July.

The program will focus on cyber hygiene and IT security and will feature basic information, requested workshops, and additional materials pointing not only to actions meant to keep you safe in the online world but also an overview of the many different cyber threats the government face.

Cybersecurity is more important than ever with businesses, government, and private individuals falling victim to digital attacks every day.

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This cybersecurity training will bring together representatives from Google, IBM, and Microsoft and several presenters such as James Saunders, chief information security officer of the U.S. Small Business Administration Information Security Division, Robert Herjavec from the hit TV series “Shark Tank, U.S. Sen Joe Manchin, D-W.V. and Heather Nauert, former undersecretary of state for public affairs and State Department spokeswoman.

Also, according to National Cybersecurity Center, Democratic Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold and Republican Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose both have agreed to become ambassadors for the training program in their states.

Americans must have confidence in their elections. That can’t happen if we aren’t vigilant in our defense of the digital systems that make up our election infrastructure.

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The trainees will learn what cybersecurity is, why it is important and how cyberattacks work. They will also find out how to use multi-factor authentication, practice password safety, and regular software patching, encrypt files and messages to protect themselves.

Series’s goal will also be teaching lawmakers about different types of threats, from ransomware and phishing to more recent supply-chain attacks like the compromises of SolarWinds and Microsoft Exchange Server.

With more and more businesses, governments, and private individuals being victims of cyberattacks daily, cybersecurity training became more vital than ever.

Forrest Senti named the Cybersecurity Training program “a critical initiative that will help state leaders in all 50 states arm themselves and their teams with best practices to safeguard themselves and their constituents against cyber threats.”