Using ‘mindfulness’ to train employees against cyberattacks
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Ohio has launched a cyber range that promises a different curriculum for state and local employees than the standard, once-a-year cyber training most public employees get.
A recent spate of cyberattacks in several smaller Ohio cities and counties reached one of the state’s biggest jurisdictions last month, as foreign hackers infiltrated Columbus’ networks and forced the city to shut down multiple services.
Ransomware group Rhysida took credit for the attack and listed more than 6.5 terabytes of stolen data on the dark web, including databases and employee login details. The hack likely was started by an employee downloading a malicious file in what experts call a “drive-by” attack. As soon as the source of the hack was identified, the city brought in the FBI and Homeland Security to investigate.
The Columbus breach highlights how vulnerable even the most well-resourced local governments are to cyberattacks. It also emphasizes the need to properly train employees. And the new Ohio Cyber Range Institute is pledging to do just that.
The institute promises a different curriculum than standard cyber training. A key tenet of its Ohio Persistent Cyber Improvement initiative is “mindfulness,” said Peter Kobak, associate director at the institute, which is housed at the University of Cincinnati and the result of collaboration between 26 institutions across the state.
“Public employees are overworked and overburdened, and if they're not being mindful in their work when they're using digital tools, then they are a vulnerability or a threat vector for the organization,” Kobak said during Route Fifty’s SLG Tech Infrastructure Workshop last week. “Our training hopes to shift [to more than] just, ‘Don't click on this link,’ [to] how to actually slow down when you're interacting with technology in order to notice things that might look irregular, how to react to those and how to frame those to keep your organization safe.”
The curriculum represents a shift from the typical once-a-year training requirement—usually in October for Cybersecurity Awareness Month—or what Kobak describes as the “one-time, annual compliance mindset.” It is also a shift from a “incident response plan” focus to a “anticipation and resilience plan,” meaning that localities are better prepared for what they may face, rather than just reactive.
The training is tailored to each employee depending on their role. A city manager, mayor or agency head, for example, would receive a different training from a cybersecurity or IT professional than a a city employee not directly involved in technology. The service is provided free to local government entities by institute staff, with the opportunity to use the cyber range for some of those exercises.
The effort officially launched in May, and Kobak said there is already a great deal of interest. Four local governments in Ohio and their 670 employees have engaged with the program, and there are several dozen in the partnership pipeline.
Cyber ranges are gaining popularity as a key training tool. In New York, a community college-based range helps prepare cyber workers of the future, while Louisiana has a similar aim for K-12 teachers and students nationwide. Ranges are also available for use by private companies to game out their response to a cyberattack.
Ohio’s cyber range has been funded primarily through the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program. The state legislature also chipped in after the institute argued that funding the education effort for local governments would provide the best return on investment.
“We made the case in the state of Ohio through this shared network, across state agencies and across the state that we had the capacity to receive that funding and provide value that was many times the return of investment,” Kobak said.
The entire effort represents a whole-of-state approach to cybersecurity, something that has grown in importance in recent years, especially in light of the federal grant program.
“You really have to create a network where you're interacting with those folks around a shared cybersecurity strategy for the state on a regular basis in order to be aligned, so that when you have money to invest, you know where you want to put it,” Kobak said.
All this builds towards being a partner in cybersecurity with local governments, rather than dictating to them.
“We're not just giving someone a blunt instrument and saying, ‘This is how you're going to be safe,’” Kobak said, “but trying to train them to use the tools that are most relevant for them.”
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