Did you know that the Department of Homeland Security offers free services to townships to prevent cyberattacks? Local governments can take advantage of the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Cyber Hygiene services. These services help local governments reduce their exposure to threats by taking a proactive approach to monitoring and mitigating attack vectors. These free services include: 

• Vulnerability Scanning: This service continuously monitors and assesses internet-accessible network assets to evaluate vulnerability status. Provides weekly reports of all findings, ad-hoc alerts about urgent findings, like potentially risky services, and known exploited vulnerabilities.  
• Web Application Scanning: This service deep-dives into publicly accessible web applications to uncover vulnerabilities and misconfigurations that attackers could exploit. This comprehensive evaluation provides detailed reports monthly, as well as on-demand reports to help keep your web applications secure. 

Interested townships can email vulnerability@cisa.dhs.gov with the subject line “Requesting Cyber Hygiene Services” to get started! Check out CISA’s services page for more information.