Securing America's Digital Infrastructure - Confronting the Human Factor

Everyone knows technology alone cannot keep organizations safe in the face of a cybersecurity attack. Human risk and human error still represent the biggest security gap for state and local governments.

And it’s getting harder and harder to close that gap. Adversaries have grown increasingly sophisticated in their efforts to exploit users in phishing attacks. Social media and other technologies provide a wealth of publicly available information on individuals – information that can be turned into an opening for a cyberattack. And the disruptions of the pandemic and the continued hybrid work environment have exponentially increased the human risk factor.

To help state and local government IT leaders develop better strategies for confronting the human factor in their cybersecurity plans, Government Technology and the Center for Digital Government are offering this virtual discussion, part of an ongoing series focused on improving cyber resilience in the public sector.

This conversation, November 22 at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET, will discuss the challenges of confronting the human factor – and best strategies for addressing this crucial security gap. The discussion will explore how the human risk factor is increasing, what the new approaches are, where training needs to go and how to keep up.