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Governor Phil Scott Creates Cybersecurity Advisory Team

October 10, 2017

Montpelier, Vt. – Governor Phil Scott today issued an Executive Order establishing the Governor’s Cybersecurity Advisory Team, a 10-member group that will advise the Governor on the State’s cybersecurity readiness, strategy and planning. 

At a press conference Tuesday, Gov. Scot signed Executive Order 18-17. Joined by representatives from the Agency of Digital Services, Department of Public Safety, Vermont State Police and Vermont Emergency Management, the Governor highlighted the intricate and quickly evolving nature of cyberthreats across the globe.

“Cybersecurity continues to be a significant threat to public and private enterprises, governments and individuals,” said Gov. Scott. “As these threats become increasingly complex and frequent across the world, we must have greater coordination, information sharing, preparation and emergency response capabilities among federal, state and local governments, private businesses, non-governmental entities and academic institutions to protect our networks and critical infrastructure systems.”

The Executive Order charges the Cybersecurity Advisory Team with developing a strategic plan for protecting the state’s information and systems, evaluating statewide cybersecurity readiness, developing best practices for policies and procedures, and building partnerships with local universities and colleges to better leverage cybersecurity resources.

The Advisory Team’s structure and charge also aim to enhance relationships and lines of communication across federal, state and local governments and the private sector to ensure resilience of electronic information systems statewide.

Additionally, the Team will identify and advise the Governor on opportunities to improve and advance the state’s approach and response to cybersecurity, including to:

  • Ensure Vermont promotes, attracts and retains a highly-skilled cybersecurity workforce;
  • Raise citizen awareness through outreach and public service announcements;
  • Provide technical capabilities, training, and advice to local government and the private sector;
  • Provide expertise to the State Legislature regarding statutory language that could further protect critical assets, infrastructure, services and personally identifiable information;
  • Advise on strategic, operational and budgetary impacts to the State; and
  • Engage state and federal partners in assessing and managing risk.

“What we’re seeing across all states is a focus on training and awareness, strategy, governance, and how to operationalize cybersecurity efforts,” said Digital Services Secretary John Quinn. “Our Agency is already focused on these areas, and the expertise and collaboration of this group will be invaluable to our efforts. Coordination and open communication across sectors is critical to our goal of continuous improvement of our cybersecurity measures.”

The Cybersecurity Advisory Team members will be appointed by the Governor. As established in the Executive Order, members from within the State of Vermont will include the Chief Information Security Officer, Chief Information Officer, the Governor’s Homeland Security Advisor or designee, a representative from the Vermont National Guard, the Attorney General or designee and a representative from Vermont Emergency Management. Non-State members will also be appointed and can include leaders from the utilities sector, higher education, health care and business.

View Executive Order 18-17 at http://governor.vermont.gov/content/governors-cybersecurity-advisory-te…