The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) plans to focus on providing state and local governments with a cybersecurity grant program, aligning federal regulations on cybersecurity and launching other efforts to ensure governments are capable of defending against increasing cybersecurity attacks.
NASCIO released Thursday that its federal advocacy priorities for 2021 intended to highlight the need for states and the federal government to work closely together to achieve cyber resiliency.
According to the paper, the nonprofit will advocate for use of .gov domain across governments, expansion of broadband access and changes to how the Federal Communications Commission conducts broadband mapping. NASCIO will also call for state and local governments’ funding for the modernization of aging information technology systems.
Denis Goulet, NASCIO president and New Hampshire commissioner and CIO, said the priorities underscore the need to have a “multi-faceted approach to cybersecurity.”
“COVID-19 has also shed light on issues, like modernization and broadband, that states have grappled with for years,” said Goulet. “It is our hope that highlighting these topics in our advocacy priorities will help states confront these challenges.”
Of the said priorities, the widespread adoption of the .gov domain and the coordination of federal cybersecurity regulations were retained from NASCIO’s 2020 Federal Advocacy Priorities.