Nebraska’s Centralized Approach to Cybersecurity, Compliance in Age of Coronavirus

Although Nebraska is not yet seeing large numbers of COVID-19 cases, and is not operating under a stay-at-home order, state CIO Ed Toner believes the government is prepared to do so, if needed. Nebraska agencies have all gone through rigorous continuity of operations planning (COOP) for the last several years, with each getting an annual COOP scorecard rating from 1 to 10. His office scores 10, and all state cabinet agencies and most of the non-cabinet agencies have a score of 8 or better. The state consolidated agencies and infrastructure several years ago, and Toner said that effort presented an opportunity to centralize all of the state’s compliance and security staff into his organization.