Monica M. Ruiz is the program fellow for the Cyber Initiative and special projects at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and serves on the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Advisory Board for the Peace and Security Funders Group. She was the first recipient of the U.S. Boren Fellowship to Estonia, where she researched topics related to cybersecurity policy and strategy and regularly writes about cybersecurity, cyber defense and state-level best practices to build cyber resiliency. She is a graduate of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Florida International University.
Subscribe to this Lawfare contributor via RSS.
While the Defense Department often lists academia as part of important partnerships, this relationship is always the coda in the partnership list. The department needs its own cyber academic engagement strategy.
On March 1, 2018, the governor of Colorado issued the first-ever state emergency declaration based on a ransomware attack. He did so to deploy cybersecurity specialists in the state’s National Guard.
In the run-up to November’s midterms, state governments across the U.S. find themselves at the forefront of the national-security debate around safeguarding our elections. It should come as no surprise that many states are struggling to protect their election and other critical systems. After all, cybersecurity remains a key challenge for the federal government as well, despite its massive resources and deep expertise. Budget realities demand that state government find innovative ways to respond to cybersecurity threats.