Cybersecurity

The state has set reporting deadlines for local governments, along with rules about ransomware attacks. The move reflects a larger trend as public officials seek to boost their cyber defenses.

A recent breach is related to a phishing email sent to a business email account with the North St. Paul Police Department, according to the city. The attack was contained to that account and has had no other impact.

As its larger neighbor continues to grapple with the fallout of a recent cyber attack, North St. Paul has hired cybersecurity experts to investigate a recent cyber attack on its own police department.

The City Council granted the mayor more time to lead a coordinated response to the breach, which has necessitated assistance from the FBI and Minnesota National Guard cybersecurity experts.

After a spate of cyber attacks against its municipalities, that state is requiring all of its local governments to have cyber policies and to approve ransom payments to hackers in full view of the public.

The county’s 2026 preliminary budget, which got a first look Tuesday, represents a $37 million increase over 2025. Priorities included cybersecurity and IT — which rose from $19 million to $39 million.

Jake Trippel is dean of the College of Business and Technology at Concordia University, where he also chairs the master’s in business administration, which includes a specialty in cybersecurity.

The state’s around-the-clock Security Operations Center now handles as many as 14 billion logs monthly. “Monitoring/security operations center” was a CISO priority for just 14 states, a recent Deloitte-NASCIO study found.

As the Minnesota capital continues to recover from last week’s cyber attack — and as officials seek accountability — lessons are starting to emerge from various parts of the gov tech world. Here’s what they have to say.

Anyone enrolled in IT and cybersecurity training programs at PC AGE Career Institute this fall is eligible for a monthly $200 stipend, intended to make training for in-demand careers more widely accessible.

The state of emergency continued Wednesday in St. Paul after officials shut down the city’s digital infrastructure and worked to stop the spread of a cyber attack that began Friday.

Following cuts to programs supporting cybersecurity in K-12 schools, the Consortium for School Networking’s petition to federal leaders in charge of allocations earned more than 400 signatures from districts nationwide.

Commissioners approved discarding 95 outdated electronic pollbooks and other voting equipment. The county officials also created a new 2025 Election Security Grant Fund, to manage $10,000 in state cybersecurity funds.

Officials shut down city systems on Monday to contain a data breach that started late Friday. It was a “complete network shut down” of Wi-Fi and Internet-based systems, though 911 and emergency response remained unaffected.

Frontlines Foundation, a nonprofit spearheaded by 18-year-old Anshi Bhatt of Virginia Beach, offers workshops to educate people about online safety and maintains a state-by-state data privacy legislation tracker.

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System issues were behind intermittent disruptions to Next-Generation 911 earlier this month, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency said in a preliminary report. A cyber attack is not believed to be behind it.

Officials at the capital city had not been optimistic the funds could be recovered, but were able to obtain the payment — stolen from an online vendor payment portal after a bad actor gained access to an account.