presenters group photo

Crossing the state from Gering, to Ogallala, to Kearney, to Lincoln, to Norfolk, NIRMA spent the better part of two weeks this April working directly with officials and employees on improving cyber security. Now, approximately 225 officials and employees will be better prepared to lead the way for their counties and agencies in this challenging aspect of county governance.

With the freedom of a full day program, NIRMA provided much more in depth, practical “how-to” guidance on cyber security than was possible in past training formats.

Attendees described the program as:

“Enlightening, interesting and essential information”

“Technical but easy to understand”

“An eye opener for professional and personal daily living”

The slate of speakers, including John Christensen and Tod Thieman of NIRMA, Todd Lewis of Bytes Managed IT, Ed Knott and Jarod Dendinger of Applied Connective Technologies, and Jarrod Daake of Five Nines Technology Group, delivered an overarching message – counties should not focus on perfection, but rather taking the first or next steps to make progress toward improved cyber security.

NIRMA’s Cyber Security Toolkit distributed at the seminars contains foundational information geared toward county board members and other decisionmakers, a security infrastructure section, infographics, checklists, and other materials to help everyone strengthen their everyday defenses against cyber attacks both in and outside of work, as well as incident response information. Also included are copies of state statutes applicable to data breaches, sample policies, and more.

The Cyber Security Toolkit is now accessible within the members-only Interact portal of this website, under the Cyber Resources link. The presentation materials for each speaker are also available there. Remember, to access members-only materials you must first log in using the Log In tab at the top of the home page. Those without individual credentials for the Interact Portal can use the Create Account tab at the top of the home page to request access.

NIRMA again extends its thanks to all who attended this year’s Spotlight Seminar Series focused on cyber security, and to our knowledgeable presenters.