Municipal Entities: The Importance of Information Security

While it’s true that most information in local agencies is public in nature, there is still a need to secure information because identity theft is a major issue.  It’s true that the majority of data in a local government falls under the classification of public information, but data classification is something very different from information security.  Data classification is the act of determining the level of security of data.  Information security is the act of protecting information from unauthorized access.  These two concepts are mutually exclusive.  An entity can house public data and still have a secure information system.  An entity can have confidential data and be lacking in information security.  Regardless of the level of data classification, municipal entities should still have secure information systems.