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Bipartisan bill would have local governments use .gov to strengthen cybersecurity defenses
Aiming
to help local governments bolster their cybersecurity posture, a bipartisan
quartet of senators have introduced legislation that would mandate the use of the
.gov domain for websites and email.The
DOTGOV Online Trust in Government Act of
2019 introduced by Senators James Lankford, R-Okla., Gary Peter, D-Mich.,
Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., charges the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) to put resources toward helping local governments switch
to .gov web addresses already used at the federal and state levels.statement.
“Unfortunately, right now most county and local governments don’t use the .gov
domain. This allows cybercriminals to more easily impersonate government
officials in order to defraud the public and get people to share sensitive
information. Our bipartisan bill provides support services, security
enhancements, and dedicated outreach to help state, local, territorial, and
tribal governments to adopt the .gov domain, improving cybersecurity and trust
in public services across the United States.”
“When
official government websites use the .gov domain instead of alternatives like
.us or .com, it makes those government websites and email addresses more
secure,” Klobuchar said in a Get daily email updates
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