State & Local

About Our Work

Too often, the cybersecurity policy conversation begins and ends with the federal government. But for most Americans, what states and cities are (or are not) doing on cybersecurity is more relevant to their lives than what happens at the federal level. Indeed, state and local governments manage valuable assets, from critical infrastructure to the massive amount of data they hold about their citizens. Moreover, a strong national cybersecurity posture depends heavily on successful relationships between the various levels of government, in areas including election security, law enforcement, and information-sharing. Yet, states and localities are differently resourced and oriented than the federal government, in addition to being less well understood. Our work on state and local cybersecurity aims to highlight the unique challenges and opportunities that appear outside of the federal government, and in doing so, provide a common understanding of pressing cybersecurity policy issues.