A Quick Guide to Protecting Municipal IT (Without Losing Your Sanity)

A Quick Guide to Protecting Municipal IT (Without Losing Your Sanity)

Running a municipality is like spinning plates—budgets, roads, emergency services, public works… and IT. But unlike potholes, a cybersecurity breach can’t just be patched up overnight. One wrong click, and suddenly, your town’s systems are locked up tighter than the vault at city hall. So, let’s talk about how to keep your municipal IT secure without adding another headache to your day.

1. Train Your Team (Because Phishing Emails Are Sneaky)

Did you know that 75% of municipal cyberattacks start with a simple phishing email? Hackers love to disguise themselves as trusted sources—banks, state agencies, even your own IT department. One employee clicks a bad link, and boom—ransomware takes over.

What to do:

• Train employees to spot suspicious emails (weird senders, urgent language, sketchy links).
• Run phishing simulations to test your staff (because nothing teaches like experience).
• Set up multi-factor authentication (so even if they steal a password, they can’t get in).

2. Backup Everything (Because “Oops” Happens)

If your town’s data isn’t backed up, you might as well leave the office door unlocked with a sign that says “Take what you want.” Cybercriminals know local governments don’t always have strong backups, which is why ransomware attacks on municipalities have skyrocketed.

What to do:

• Use automatic, daily backups for critical systems (and test them—backups that don’t work are just expensive digital clutter).
• Store backups offsite or in the cloud to protect against local disasters.
• Implement a disaster recovery plan so everyone knows what to do when (not if) something goes wrong.

3. Keep Software Updated (Because Hackers Love Old Systems)

Still running Windows 10? You might as well be sending hackers an invitation. Outdated software is full of security holes, and cybercriminals are more than happy to exploit them.

What to do:

• Enable automatic updates for all software, including operating systems, applications, and security tools.
• Replace legacy systems that no longer receive security patches.
• Work with an IT provider who can monitor and manage updates so you don’t have to.

4. Lock Down Access (Because Not Everyone Needs the Keys to the City)

Not everyone in your town hall needs access to everything. If your intern can open the same files as your finance director, that’s a problem.

What to do:

• Implement role-based access control (so employees only have access to what they need).
• Require strong passwords (no more “password123”) and multi-factor authentication.
• Regularly review who has access to sensitive systems and remove unnecessary accounts.

5. Plan for the Worst (Because Hope Isn’t a Security Strategy)

Even with the best defenses, things can go wrong. The difference between a minor hiccup and a full-blown crisis is preparation.

What to do:

• Create an incident response plan (so you’re not scrambling when something happens).
• Have a cyber insurance policy (because recovering from an attack is expensive).
• Work with IT professionals who specialize in municipal security (because Google isn’t a security strategy).

Final Thought: IT Security Doesn’t Have to Be a Nightmare

Cyber threats aren’t going away, but with the right precautions, your municipality can stay protected, compliant, and out of the headlines. Not sure where to start? We help towns across WNY lock down their systems, train their staff, and keep IT headaches to a minimum.

Need a second opinion on your town’s IT security?