Threats To Wyoming Cyber Security Are Serious

You might think that a small state government like Wyoming's would not be an interesting target for cyber crimes. But the number of attempted hacks into our state government top 220,000-225,000 cyber attacks on those systems every day or around 6-7 million attacks each month, according to.........

If a hacker gets through, the state could be subject to ransomware as they lock down Wyoming infrastructure, accounting, records, hospitals and other key functions of the state and private sector.

Governor Matt Mead is taking the threat seriously, saying It's not just an economic concern, but a health and safety concern.

But does the state currently have the money to spend on cyber security? The revenue picture for 2018 is looking better but we probably not have the money to install the systems and hire the people needed to protect our systems.

Lawmakers were asked for money for cyber protection but they denied that request. Relative to the state's overall budget, Mead said he thought his request was "fairly modest."

Mead's 2016 request for funds would be partly paid for programming in UW's College of Engineering and Applied Science's Department of Computer Science. In other words, save money by letting young minds studying cyber security learn their craft by protecting the state's systems.

Until secure systems are in place the state is vulnerable.