October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. It is a good time for municipalities, public agencies, utility districts, libraries, school districts, parks departments, and economic development organizations to take a closer look at what you know, what you assume, and what is actually protecting your operations.
Not all cybersecurity advice is accurate. Some advice has been repeated for so long that it sounds like fact, even when it is outdated or incomplete.
That creates blind spots. Cybercriminals look for those blind spots, especially in public-sector environments where one exposed Microsoft 365 account, one missed update, one untested backup, or one bad click can disrupt citizen services, public records, utility billing, GIS data, payroll, public safety coordination, or grant-funded programs.
In Columbia, Boone County, and communities across Mid-Missouri like Ashland, Hallsville, Centralia, Rocheport, Fulton, Boonville, Mexico, Moberly, Jefferson City, and California, public agencies carry a lot of responsibility. You are expected to serve residents, protect citizen data, maintain public trust, and use taxpayer resources wisely.
The good news is that many cybersecurity gaps are practical to address once you know where to look. Here are six cybersecurity myths we hear from organizations, including public agencies, along with the facts behind them.
Myth 1: We are too small for cybercriminals to care about
There is no city, district, department, or public agency too small for an opportunistic cybercriminal. A small water district, rural school district, local library, parks department, or economic development office can be just as attractive as a larger organization if the opportunity is there.
If you have exposed accounts, resident information, payment systems, public records, infrastructure plans, grant documents, vendor access, or vulnerable systems, you may be a target. Your organization could also provide an entry point into a partner, contractor, state system, or shared service.
Fact: Hackers choose targets based on opportunity, not population size or agency budget.
Myth 2: Staff will recognize a phishing email
The obvious phishing emails filled with typos and strange senders are not the only threat anymore. Many scams are polished, personalized, and designed to look like they came from someone your staff already works with.
Artificial intelligence has made it harder to spot a scam by reading the message alone. A fake request can look like it came from a department head, elected official, superintendent, board member, vendor, grant administrator, or neighboring agency.
Your team needs to look at the behavior behind the request. Ask whether the supposed sender would:
- Make an unusual request
- Change payment or banking instructions
- Request citizen data, employee records, or confidential documents
- Send a new or unusual Microsoft 365 login link
- Ask for urgent action outside normal purchasing or approval procedures
If something feels unusual, slow down and verify it through a separate channel. Call the person using a known phone number. Do not reply to the message or use the contact information it provides.
Fact: A convincing email can still be a scam, even when it sounds like local government business.
Myth 3: MFA fully protects our accounts
Multi factor authentication is an important layer of protection, especially for Microsoft 365, remote access, financial systems, GIS platforms, records systems, and administrative portals. But MFA is not invulnerable.
Criminals use MFA fatigue attacks to take advantage of people who receive repeated approval requests. Prompt bombing can flood a phone with login requests. The attacker hopes the employee eventually approves one just to make the notifications stop.
MFA should be supported by strong passwords, managed devices, access controls, conditional access policies, role-based permissions, security awareness training, and monitoring. Where possible, use phishing resistant authentication methods instead of relying only on approval notifications or text messages.
For public agencies, this matters because one compromised account can expose resident records, internal communications, employee information, board materials, utility data, or public works documents.
Fact: MFA should be part of a broader cybersecurity and access management strategy.
Myth 4: Our backups have us covered
Ask yourself a practical question. If ransomware locked up your files tomorrow, could your agency restore its data? How long would that take? Which services would be unavailable while you worked through it?
A backup only helps when it is available, protected, and tested. Many organizations discover during an incident that backups were incomplete, connected to the network, too old, missing Microsoft 365 data, or impossible to restore quickly.
For a public agency, downtime is not just inconvenient. It can affect utility billing, public meeting records, permitting, email, payroll, public safety support, park reservations, library services, citizen requests, inspections, and infrastructure planning.
Review your backup schedule, retention periods, access controls, cloud backup coverage, and recovery process. Test the process regularly so you know what will happen before there is a crisis.
Fact: Having backups is not the same as being able to recover public services quickly.
Myth 5: Cybersecurity is only IT responsibility
Your IT team or technology provider does a lot to protect your systems. They cannot control every click, password, file transfer, spreadsheet, shared folder, vendor invoice, or payment request made throughout the organization.
Cybersecurity decisions happen in city halls, county offices, school offices, library branches, maintenance shops, parks facilities, utility offices, and remote work locations. A single bad click can open the door to malware, stolen credentials, fraudulent payments, or exposed citizen data.
Security awareness training helps staff recognize unusual requests and know when to ask for help. The goal is not to turn everyone into a technical expert. The goal is to help people make safer decisions during a busy day serving the public.
This is also part of responsible stewardship. Public agencies have to protect taxpayer resources, comply with cybersecurity requirements tied to grants or insurance, and maintain public trust when something goes wrong.
Fact: Training employees to make good decisions strengthens your cybersecurity and protects public trust.
Myth 6: We know what to do if something happens
Imagine it is Tuesday morning and several employees suddenly cannot access their files. Email is unreliable. A shared drive is locked. Utility billing, records management, or permitting is down. That is when many organizations discover they have not answered a few basic questions.
- Should employees shut down their computers?
- Who contacts IT or your technology provider?
- Who notifies leadership, legal counsel, insurance, or law enforcement?
- What happens if email and phone systems are unavailable?
- Who communicates with residents, staff, board members, vendors, and partner agencies?
- How will emergency services, public works, or utility operations continue?
- Which systems must be restored first?
Do not rely on memory during an incident. Create a written incident response plan, assign responsibilities, and test the plan with your team. Your response process should include backup communication methods, recovery priorities, vendor contacts, insurance requirements, and a clear escalation path.
For Columbia and the surrounding Mid-Missouri region, this planning matters even more because our area is a hub for government, education, healthcare, public services, workforce development, and economic activity. Technology interruptions can ripple beyond one department or building.
Fact: Your recovery plan should not debut during an incident.
Cybersecurity awareness starts with the facts
Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a good reminder to check the assumptions guiding your decisions.
Myths are comfortable. They can make an organization feel protected without requiring anyone to look closely at the details. But many cybersecurity gaps come from believing everything is handled when it is not.
At Tigerhawk Technologies, we help organizations separate real protection from false confidence. For public agencies, that starts with understanding your accounts, devices, Microsoft 365 environment, backups, records management needs, policies, vendor access, and response plans.
If any of these myths sound familiar, take a closer look at where your organization stands. Schedule a discovery call and let us help you identify the practical steps that can reduce your risk.
Questions public-sector leaders are asking
How should a Columbia or Boone County public agency prioritize cybersecurity with a limited budget?
Start with the basics that reduce the most risk: MFA, Microsoft 365 security settings, tested backups, patching, endpoint protection, access reviews, and staff training. Then document your response plan. This approach helps protect citizen services and taxpayer resources without assuming every agency needs an expensive or overly complex security program.
Do local governments and public agencies need separate backup for Microsoft 365?
In many cases, yes. Microsoft 365 provides strong availability, but that is not the same as a complete backup and recovery strategy for email, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams. Public agencies should understand retention settings, deletion risks, legal hold needs, records management requirements, and how quickly data can be restored after ransomware or account compromise.
What should public works, utilities, libraries, and school districts include in an incident response plan?
Your plan should name decision makers, IT contacts, insurance contacts, communication methods, recovery priorities, and procedures for preserving evidence. It should also identify critical services like utility billing, public safety coordination, payroll, email, records access, and citizen communications. The plan needs to be written, shared with the right people, and tested before an incident.