Bill would boost Ohio’s cybersecurity
In the event of a cyberattack, Ohio officials want to be able to call on highly trained IT experts who can step in to help.
State lawmakers are now considering a bill that would require Ohio Secretary of State Frank Larose to appoint a chief for information security, mandate audits of election results through county election offices and require the governor create a civilian cyber security reserve force.
The Ohio Cyber Reserve would operate similarly to the Ohio National Guard, available for activation in times of attack or crisis involving an election or other government functions. Trained experts would be available to help prevent cyberattacks, too, Larose said.
Voting security is a top priority, especially after evidence emerged that hackers linked to the Russian government tried to infiltrate American election infrastructure in 2016.
The bill calls for the reservists to be unpaid volunteers during training but paid when put into active duty — generally the same rates paid to officers and enlisted personnel in the armed forces.
Cyber reservists would be under the Ohio adjutant general as a civilian force, not subject to deployment into military service by the federal government.
Reservists would be called into action in the event of an attack but also asked to work with local governments on best practices for cyber defense, Larose said in testimony supporting the bill.
The bill is also backed by Major General John C. Harris, the Ohio adjutant general, who said cyber experts he can access through the Ohio National Guard and other forces “are overmissioned and understaffed.”
“We are under constant assault from cyber criminals. And Ohio is not immune,” Harris said in written testimony.
He noted the Michigan and Wisconsin each established cyber reserves but with mixed results. Ohio’s plan would address those shortfalls, he said.
Harris estimated it would cost $3,000 a day to deploy a cyber response team, far less than the $4 million average cost of a data breach at a business.