March 29, 2024
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Hogan signs Executive Order to enhance Maryland’s cybersecurity preparedness

Governor Larry Hogan recently issued Executive Order 01.01.2017.22 directing the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security to coordinate, improve, and implement an updated cybersecurity plan to ensure that Maryland is prepared to confront today’s cyber threats.

The order lays out a collaborative process for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security, led by Walter “Pete” Landon, to work with key state agencies, including the Department of Information Technology (DoIT), the Maryland Military Department, and the Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), and to seek input and information from other branches of state and federal government, the private sector, and the academic community in order to analyze existing plans, share innovative new strategies, and determine the best cybersecurity practices for Maryland to adopt.

“October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month in Maryland, and we are proud to lead the nation in cyber innovation,” said Governor Hogan. “This new cybersecurity plan will leverage our unique resources, including leading government agencies and cutting-edge research institutions, along with the innovation of the private sector, to protect Marylanders against cyber threats to our state and our country.”

“No state is better equipped or better positioned than Maryland to address the rapidly emerging and evolving cybersecurity challenges facing our nation,” continued the governor.

The new plan will also incorporate recommendations from the Maryland Cybersecurity Council and the Cyber Disruption Contingency Plan prepared by DoIT and MEMA in April 2017. Once implemented, it will improve the processes and procedures designed to shield state government from a broad array of virtual threats, and to manage and minimize the risk of any breach of government systems at a time where global cyber threats are on the rise. The draft plan will be provided to the governor for his review and input by May 2018.

Maryland is home to the top cyber-related federal government agencies and military installations, including the National Security Agency, the U.S. Cyber Command, and the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence. There are more than 1,200 private sector cybersecurity companies in the state, and 17 Maryland universities, colleges, and community colleges have been designated as national centers of academic excellence in cyber defense – the most of any state.

In addition to issuing this executive order, Governor Hogan attended a roundtable meeting with executives at CyberCore in Elkridge today. The governor also recently touted Maryland’s status as the cyber capital of the nation during an economic development and trade mission to Canada, where he addressed cyber industry leaders at the Information Technology Association of Canada in Toronto.

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