Security News > 2021 > January > Governors hear about the dangers of a lackluster cybersecurity response, need for FBI coordination
States across the country are increasingly realizing that more needs to be done to prepare in advance of cyberattacks, according to Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, who spoke at the National Governors Association's biennial National Summit on State Cybersecurity.
"Two of the most critical actions that I took as governor were establishing the Louisiana Cybersecurity Commission and developing a statewide incident response plan. One of the most critical things you can do as a state is to have a cyber emergency preparedness plan that has been battle-tested and validated," he said.
The state committee had not even tested out its incident response plan when it was hit with the cyberattack in the summer of 2019, right before schools were getting ready to open for the year.
As news outlets noted at the time, Edwards activated the state's cyber incident response plan, called the Emergency Support Function 17, for the first time after multiple school districts were hit, including the Tangipahoa Parish school district as well as the Sabine, Morehouse, and Ouachita parishes.
"Three North Louisiana school districts reported last week that cyberattacks had shut down their district phone lines and locked and encrypted school system data. As a precautionary measure, we have shut down the IP phone connections at all of our offices, including schools, Central Office, and our registration center so the team can mitigate any potential spread of the malware," Tangipahoa School Superintendent Melissa Stilley said in a statement at the time.
The quick response allowed state officials to help the five schools recover but also limited the damage at seven other schools, and Edwards said that with the help of the National Guard, all of the schools were able to open on time.