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Sophisticated Foreign Attacks Strain Maine’s Cyber-Resources

Acknowledging a surge in “malicious traffic” a few weeks ago, Maine Chief Information Officer Fred Brittain outlines his layered strategy for managing cyberthreats in his small state.

Maine CIO Fred Brittain
Maine CIO Fred Brittain
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Maine may have a smaller cyberfootprint than more populous states, but what’s also smaller is the number of resources it has to devote to current threats. “We’re not a large state — there are states that have a much larger staff than I do,” said Fred Brittain, Maine’s chief information officer, who talked to Government Technology at the NASCIO annual conference Monday. He explained that given his available resources, his approach is to “develop a portfolio of the right amount of staff with the right skills, layering different products and then having managed services."

Government remains a target-rich environment for hackers, evidenced by a spike in penetration attempts that hit Maine very recently. Part of Brittain’s cyberstrategy is to reach out to partners when they need help, be it from the federal government, vendor partners or others.

Noelle Knell is the executive editor for e.Republic, responsible for setting the overall direction for e.Republic’s editorial platforms, including Government Technology, Governing, Industry Insider, Emergency Management and the Center for Digital Education. She has been with e.Republic since 2011, and has decades of writing, editing and leadership experience. A California native, Noelle has worked in both state and local government, and is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, with majors in political science and American history.