{"id":70470,"date":"2025-12-04T02:08:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T02:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/70470\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T02:08:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T02:08:14","slug":"floridas-taxpayers-deserve-better-cybersecurity-from-government-agencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/70470\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida\u2019s taxpayers deserve better cybersecurity from government agencies"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Floridians pay their taxes, they expect that money to be spent wisely. Roads are paved and in good shape. Schools funded. Data protected. What they don\u2019t expect is for those same dollars to be spent on tech contracts that leave sensitive information wide open to hackers.<\/p>\n

As someone who works with small businesses daily, I see firsthand what happens when cybersecurity takes a back seat. One weak password, one missed update, and suddenly a company\u2019s email or payroll system is locked up by ransomware.<\/p>\n

And for local governments, it\u2019s not just a technical problem. It\u2019s a taxpayer problem that too often results from large vendors cutting corners.<\/p>\n

For example, Microsoft is one of the biggest technology companies in the world. Yet, it has repeatedly failed to protect the data of the very governments and citizens who rely on it. In 2020, the company, along with SolarWinds, was part of a significant data breach <\/a>involving Russia-linked hackers who compromised more than 200 organizations and government agencies worldwide,\u00a0including the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration. Earlier this year,\u00a0foreign hackers exploited flaws in Microsoft\u2019s software in order to access U.S. government networks<\/a>, including the Department of Homeland Security and the National Nuclear Security Administration.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s further been reported that\u00a0Microsoft outsourced parts of its cloud maintenance<\/a>, including for agencies like the Department of Defense, to low-cost labor overseas, including to China. That\u2019s not just bad business judgment. It\u2019s a national security risk that trickles all the way down to our state and local systems \u2013 an expensive one at that.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Government officials often talk about cutting government waste to save taxpayer dollars, but few realize how expensive a single cyberattack can be. A ransomware breach can drain local budgets, delay paychecks, and even expose residents\u2019 personal data. The costs add up fast \u2013 emergency IT response, investigations, system restoration, legal fees, potential lawsuits, and in some cases, the long-term expense of credit monitoring for affected citizens.<\/p>\n

Smaller municipalities will struggle to recover from a single security incident, having to draw on other budget areas to pay for everything. Every time that happens, it\u2019s taxpayers footing the bill for someone else\u2019s negligence.<\/p>\n

The ripple effects also extend beyond immediate financial damage. When a city\u2019s systems go down, residents can\u2019t pay their water bills online, businesses can\u2019t get permits processed, and critical services grind to a halt. The government already has a bad reputation for being too slow \u2014 cyber incidents make it worse. And once a breach becomes public, it can take years for an agency to rebuild its reputation and restore public confidence.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve worked with small businesses all over South Florida and throughout the state that are trying to modernize their systems. They\u2019re smart, dedicated people, but they\u2019re often working with outdated tools and limited budgets. Like my clients, many of these local government IT departments are understaffed and underfunded, struggling to keep up with increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. They deserve better support and resources to do their jobs effectively.<\/p>\n

The good news is that Florida can set the tone nationally. We should require stronger vendor accountability and prioritize cybersecurity in every state contract so that national incidents like the Microsoft breach don\u2019t occur on a smaller scale in our municipalities and states. Florida should also continue to invest in cybersecurity training programs to build a homegrown workforce capable of defending our digital infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At the end of the day, cybersecurity comes down to stewardship. Protecting taxpayer dollars. Protecting the businesses that keep our economy running. Protecting the citizens who count on government systems to be there when they need them. It\u2019s time for Florida\u2019s leaders to demand more from their technology vendors and ensure that every contract signed prioritizes security. Our taxpayers deserve nothing less.<\/p>\n

\u00a0___<\/p>\n

Reginald\u00a0Andre\u00a0is the CEO of ARK Solvers, a South Florida-based cybersecurity and IT company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Floridians pay their taxes, they expect that money to be spent wisely. Roads are paved and in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[40698,28,40699,30,29,40700,40701,40702,40703,40704,40705,40706,40707],"class_list":["post-70470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-cybersecurity-risks-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-cyber-workforce","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-government-data-breaches","tag-local-government-it-security","tag-microsoft-security-failures","tag-municipal-cyber-preparedness","tag-protecting-taxpayer-dollars","tag-ransomware-impacts-cities","tag-state-contract-security-rules","tag-vendor-accountability-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}