Cybersecurity and Local Government

10 Cybersecurity Law and Regulation for Local Government

10.1 Introduction

This chapter addresses the growing field of cybersecurity law. Cybersecurity law, for the purposes of this book, is made up of the laws and regulations concerning the proper management of a local government’s information assets in order to support the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of those assets. Some, mainly larger local governments, maintain robust legal departments. However, they may contract out for certain types of specialized legal services, cybersecurity among them. Some, perhaps many smaller local governments, however, do not have the resources to support legal departments and must contract out for most or all of their legal services.

Lawyers working in government practice have expertise in many different areas from administrative, criminal, and environmental law to tax, banking, transactional law, and consumer protection. Practice types also vary from bill drafting and regulatory work to litigation and negotiation. These lawyers represent the interests of the local government itself, as well as its citizens. The legal responsibilities facing local governments are plentiful, and they continue to grow. Like almost any organization, local governments must now consider hiring legal counsel with cybersecurity expertise, or “Privacy Officers” who have knowledge and expertise in the areas of information privacy laws and compliance.

This chapter presents an overview of the laws and regulations ...