Despite claiming to encourage improved cybersecurity defenses, President Donald Trump's new "Achieving Efficiency Through State and Local Preparedness" executive order was criticized by cybersecurity experts for giving state and local governments with more limited resources and capabilities the responsibility to deal with increasingly advanced cybersecurity threats, reports CyberScoop.
Instead of alleviating "taxpayer burdens" as promised by the EO, reducing federal cybersecurity and preparedness support would only increase schools', emergency services', and local governments' vulnerability to cyberattacks, according to Center for Democracy & Technology Senior Policy Analyst for Elections and Democracy Tim Harper. Advancing state and local governments' cyber capabilities to combat state-sponsored threats was also regarded by former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Deputy Director Nitin Nataranjan to be a significant challenge. Such a development comes after the Trump administration's recent moves to cut back on federal cybersecurity efforts, including the removal of funding for the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center and EI-ISAC.
