State cybersecurity support underway, leaders expect more to be needed

As the City of St. Paul scrambles to recover from a massive cyberattack, the state agency in charge of supporting local governments’ cybersecurity says funds are still available to help avoid what’s unfolding in the capital city. 

RELATED: St. Paul says emergency services ‘fully operational’ in wake of cyberattack

“The core piece here is making sure that we’re all have a level playing ground, and we have the opportunity and the resources available to protect our own data,” John Israel, Chief Information Security Officer with Minnesota IT Services (MNIT), said. 

His agency oversees millions in taxpayer dollars that have been recently secured by lawmakers to combat cyber-hackers — over the last two years, they’ve been able to partner with more than 200 communities to help them strengthen their cybersecurity, including many school districts. 

“Think of it as the kinds of cybersecurity tools that we see, like [with] companies in Minnesota, like 3M, like Target, like Medtronic, and others that have access to [cybersecurity tools], we’re bringing those that are really complex down to every local government in the state,” Israel said. 

That work is possible because more than $30 million was approved in 2023 by the Minnesota Legislature — the year before, lawmakers also took a big step to address this issue by designating IT data as ‘critical infrastructure. It was that latter move that allowed St. Paul city leaders to get state and federal assistance as quickly as they did. 

“Quite frankly, it’s not if these times of types of things are going to happen, it’s when,” Rep. Kristin Bahner, DFL – Maple Grove, told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS. 

Rep. Bahner has helped lead the charge at the Capitol – she says cybersecurity is a bipartisan issue that’s ramped up in recent years following major attacks on cities across the country. 

“The need is really great. You know, hackers like to go after targets that feel a little bit soft or a little bit unprotected. That’s generally what they like to do,” Bahner added.

RELATED: Here’s why the National Guard was called in to help with a cyberattack on St. Paul

“What our posture has been is, how do we get resources into the hands of state and local government to really start to shore up our cybersecurity posture so that these types of attacks are not successful?” she said. 

Both she and Israel say more funding will be needed in the future — Bahner says she already has legislation prepared to present next session to try and lock in more funds for cities and counties.