StateScoop reports that increasingly prevalent cybersecurity threats against Texas have prompted Gov. Greg Abbott to approve legislation establishing a new state Cyber Command at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Aside from having a cyber threat intelligence center for addressing government system flaws and bolstering cyber training among state workers, Texas Cyber Command which will be given $135 million from the state's General Revenue Fund until 2027 will also feature an incident response unit and a digital forensics lab. Operations of Texas Cyber Command, which will be dependent on collaborations with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and National Security Agency, will commence in 18 months. "Our state is under constant attack by cyber criminals, attacks that occur thousands of times every single second of every single day. Attacks often come from foreign actors from hostile countries like China, Russia, and Iran. They successfully attacked cities, counties, and government agencies in Texas, from Mission to Muleshoe. That changes today," said Abbott.
Aside from having a cyber threat intelligence center for addressing government system flaws and bolstering cyber training among state workers, Texas Cyber Command which will be given $135 million from the state's General Revenue Fund until 2027 will also feature an incident response unit and a digital forensics lab. Operations of Texas Cyber Command, which will be dependent on collaborations with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and National Security Agency, will commence in 18 months. "Our state is under constant attack by cyber criminals, attacks that occur thousands of times every single second of every single day. Attacks often come from foreign actors from hostile countries like China, Russia, and Iran. They successfully attacked cities, counties, and government agencies in Texas, from Mission to Muleshoe. That changes today," said Abbott.
