WASHINGTON – Cyberattacks against the machinery that runs America are increasing by the day, and the nation’s top civilian cybersecurity official is calling in the cavalry – America’s mayors – to form a front line of the U.S. defense.
Jen Easterly, who heads the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), says ransomware and other digital threats have made local governments around the nation vulnerable as never before. Water treatment plants, hospitals, police departments and even the automated systems that run entire cities have been hit by hackers, at times with devastating consequences.
