Marin County Grand Jury
• 2024-2025
• Agency Response
Response to:
Cyberattacks: A Growing Threat to Marin Government
Cyber Preparedness: Are we there yet?
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 6 findings
F1
Contracts for Information Technology, Information Systems, and Cybersecurity services between third-party providers and Marin County governmental agencies should contain a Business Continuity clause, or other language, protecting that agency from a sudden cessation of services provided by the third-party provider. Response – The City of Belvedere agrees with this finding.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Marin agencies should require a current (executed within the last five years), competitively-bid, written contract which includes business continuity language for any third-party Information Technology services they use.. Response - The City has implemented this recommendation.
F2
Marin County municipalities should have current, written contracts with third-party providers of Information Technology, Information Systems, and Cybersecurity services, and should not continue to use those providers’ services without a current contract. Response – The City of Belvedere agrees with this finding.
No recommendations for this finding
F3
Membership in insurance risk pools provides the benefits of cybersecurity assessments and audits, which highlight cybersecurity deficiencies and make suggestions for improvement. Response – The City of Belvedere agrees with this finding.
No recommendations for this finding
F4
Having a completed, adopted and regularly updated cybersecurity plan helps ensure that all staff within a government agency are working together to optimize that organization's cyber preparedness and security. Response – The City of Belvedere agrees with this finding.
No recommendations for this finding
F5
Joint Powers Authorities in Marin County exist to provide more efficient and cost- effective services to the people of Marin. Response – The City of Belvedere agrees with this finding.
No recommendations for this finding
F6
The current County Collective Bargaining Agreements prevent the Marin County Department of Information Systems & Technology from unilaterally negotiating managed service agreements (outsourcing work to third parties). Response – The City of Belvedere partially disagrees with this finding. It is not within the City of Belvedere’s realm of responsibility to agree or disagree with this finding. The County’s collective bargaining agreements are the responsibility of the County of Marin. RESPONSE TO GRAND JURY RECOMMENDATIONS The Marin County Civil Grand Jury recommends the following:
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
(a) All Marin municipalities should: a) take all steps necessary to acquire an appropriate .gov or .ca.gov domain. Response - This recommendation has not yet been implemented but will be On October 8, 2023, the California Assembly passed AB1637 which requires municipalities to move .gov or .ca.gov domains no later than 2029. The City of Belvedere will acquire a domain name and will migrate to the .gov domain prior to the 2029 deadline.