On the surface, everything can look calm.
That is what makes Shark Week interesting every year. The danger is not always what you see on top of the water. It is what is already moving underneath.
Cybercriminals work the same way.
The threats facing local governments, public agencies, utility districts, libraries, parks departments, public works teams, school districts, and economic development organizations are built to blend in. They look like normal emails, routine invoices, familiar vendors, password alerts, grant-related messages, or quick requests from someone your staff already trusts.
Then money moves. Systems lock up. Citizen data gets exposed. Public records become unavailable. Utility billing, permitting, payroll, GIS, public safety workflows, and daily citizen services can all be affected before the problem is obvious.
Summer makes this worse.
People are traveling. Schedules are lighter. Key staff are out. Approvals get handed off. Public meetings, maintenance schedules, pool operations, road work, summer school, events, and vacations all compete for attention. Attackers know this, and they use it.
Columbia is a regional center for government, education, healthcare, economic development, and public services in Mid-Missouri. That means public organizations around Boone County and nearby communities like Ashland, Hallsville, Centralia, Rocheport, Fulton, Boonville, Mexico, Moberly, Jefferson City, and California are all operating in a connected environment. Email, vendors, shared records, cloud systems, and public-facing services all matter.
Here are three risks circling public-sector organizations right now.
1. Fake invoices and vendor impersonation
Attackers do not always need to hack your network.
Sometimes they only need to send one email that looks believable.
This is called business email compromise, or BEC. In the public sector, it may look like a contractor invoice, engineering firm payment request, software renewal, equipment purchase, utility vendor message, construction change order, or banking update from an organization your staff already knows.
The email looks normal. The wording feels familiar. The request seems routine.
Someone pays the invoice, changes the bank information, approves a transfer, or forwards the message to finance. Later, the real vendor calls asking about payment, and the agency finds out taxpayer dollars went to the wrong place.
These attacks increase during vacation season because the normal approval process often gets loose. The person who usually handles accounts payable may be out. A backup may not know what normal looks like. An urgent message may get treated as a problem to solve instead of a risk to verify.
The fix is simple.
Create a verification process for any financial request that comes through email. If vendor payment details change, if wire information is sent, if an invoice feels unusual, or if the request involves grant funds, capital projects, utility infrastructure, or taxpayer resources, your team should confirm it using a known phone number. Not the phone number in the email.
A two-minute call can stop a very expensive mistake.
2. Phishing attacks aimed at distracted public employees
Phishing works because people are busy.
That is the whole strategy.
An employee sees a Microsoft 365 password reset email and clicks the link. Someone gets a text that looks like it came from IT. A department head receives an urgent approval request right before a council meeting or board meeting. A staff member opens a file because the email came from a name they recognize.
The attacker is counting on speed.
They want your people to react before they think.
Software matters. Multi-factor authentication, secure email filtering, endpoint protection, and Microsoft 365 security settings are important. But the best protection is not only a tool. It is a culture where employees know they are allowed to slow down when something feels off.
Your team should pause when they see:
- An unexpected login request
- A payment instruction that came out of nowhere
- A link they were not expecting
- A message that creates pressure or urgency
- A request to bypass normal purchasing, records, or approval processes
- A file request involving citizen data, personnel records, GIS layers, public safety information, or student records
Speed is a weapon attackers use against public agencies.
Slowing down takes that weapon away.
3. Vendor and third-party access that is not being watched
Your agency may be careful, but what about the vendors connected to it?
If a vendor has access to your systems, data, email, cloud tools, accounting platform, permitting system, utility billing software, records management platform, GIS environment, security cameras, library systems, or school applications, their problem can become your problem fast.
This is supply chain risk.
Most organizations have more of it than they realize.
Think about all the software tools your department uses. Think about outside service providers with credentials. Think about contractors who had access during an infrastructure project. Think about old users that were never removed after a grant program, road project, building upgrade, or seasonal operation ended.
Each one can become a path into your agency if it is not managed.
Outsourcing a service does not outsource responsibility.
You need to know the basics:
- Which vendors can access your data or systems?
- What exactly are they connected to?
- Who inside your agency is responsible for that relationship?
- When was their access last reviewed?
- Does their access still match the work they are supposed to do?
If those answers are not clear, your risk is not clear either.
And unclear risk is where problems start.
By the time you see the threat, it may already be moving
Sharks do not announce themselves.
Neither do the cybercriminals targeting local governments and public agencies.
The organizations that get hit are not always ignoring obvious warning signs. Many of them believe everything is fine because nothing looks wrong on the surface.
That is the trap.
Invoices look normal. Vendor access looks routine. Employees are just trying to keep services moving. Summer schedules feel relaxed. Microsoft 365 is working. The website is up. Utility bills are going out. Public records are available. Citizens are getting served.
Meanwhile, attackers are looking for the gap.
For public-sector organizations, the stakes are bigger than downtime. Cybersecurity is tied to public trust, continuity of services, responsible use of taxpayer resources, records retention, grant compliance, public safety, and the ability to keep daily operations moving when something goes wrong.
At Tigerhawk, we help organizations get a clear picture of where they are exposed across people, vendors, email, Microsoft 365, devices, backups, disaster recovery, and daily operations. Not with scare tactics. With practical steps that make sense for real organizations serving real communities.
If you are not sure where your agency stands, now is a good time to find out.
For more information, schedule time with Tigerhawk.
Questions public agencies around Columbia are asking
How can a Columbia, Missouri area public agency reduce invoice fraud without slowing down public services?
Start with a written verification process for any vendor banking change, wire request, unusual invoice, or grant-related payment. Require confirmation through a known phone number, not the contact information in the email. Keep approval roles clear, especially when staff are out. The goal is not red tape. It is protecting taxpayer dollars with a simple, repeatable step.
What should local governments in Boone County review in Microsoft 365?
Review multi-factor authentication, administrator accounts, mailbox forwarding rules, shared mailboxes, guest access, retention settings, and inactive users. Many agencies use Microsoft 365 every day for records, calendars, council packets, finance documents, and citizen communication. If those settings are not reviewed regularly, small gaps can turn into larger cybersecurity and records management problems.
Do public agencies in Mid-Missouri need backup and disaster recovery if their systems are in the cloud?
Yes. Cloud services reduce some risks, but they do not eliminate the need for backup and recovery planning. Accidental deletion, ransomware, account compromise, vendor outages, and retention mistakes can still affect access to records and services. Municipalities, utilities, libraries, school districts, and public works departments should know what is backed up, how often, and how quickly it can be restored.