Background Briefing: How will the Governor’s Initiatives Improve Cybersecurity for the State’s Critical Infrastructures?

You are working for the Chief of Staff (CoS) for a newly elected Governor. The governor asked the CoS to research and prepare a 5 to 7 paragraph background briefing (backgrounder) that addresses the question below. This background briefing will be used to help prepare the Governor and his appointed cybersecurity director as they answer questions from the press and general public.

As governor, how will your administration improve cybersecurity for the state’s Critical Infrastructures?

The CoS has asked you to research and prepare a draft for the background briefing. Your draft must provide enough information that the CoS and the Governor understand key terms that you will be using in your explanations. To that end, your draft briefing must answer the following questions:

• What is meant by “cybersecurity” for critical infrastructures?”
• What is meant by “Threats” (i.e. individual hackers, politically motivated hacktivists, criminal enterprises, and unfriendly “nation state” actors), countermeasures, and safeguards?
• What are the three most important actions that the governor’s administration should take to help improve the security of critical infrastructures in the state? (You should identify and discuss these in greater detail than your response to the first two bullet points.)

Provide in-text citations and references for 3 or more authoritative sources. Put the reference list at the end of your posting.