Page 22 - Cyber Warnings August 2017

Nevada Assembly Bill 471 (AB 471)
On June 5, 2017, Governor Brian Sandoval signed Assembly Bill 471 (AB 471) into law. 2017
Nev. AB 471. This piece of legislation established a Cyber Defense Coordination within the
Nevada Department of Public Safety that will be responsible for detecting, deterring, and
responding to cyber attacks against the state. Id. This law illuminates the importance of
cybersecurity in connection with protecting critical state infrastructure. Id. Specifically, this bill
emphasizes the critical role cybersecurity plays in preserving the delivery of vital resources and
services to the state populace when faced with a cyber attack, creating jobs, improving
educational opportunities in the cybersecurity field, and protecting commerce. Id.

Moreover, this bill demonstrates a strong level of intuition and aptitude by the Nevada
Legislature to anticipate the growing threat that hacks and cyberattacks will likely impose in the
coming years. In October of 2016, the United States accused Russia of hacking organizations and
voter machines involved in the 2016 Presidential U.S. election. Just months before,
investigations revealed the Russian government’s involvement in the hack of the Democratic
National Committee. Shackelford, Schneier, Sulmeyer, Boustead, Buchanan, Deckard, Herr,
Smith, Article, MAKING DEMOCRACY HARDER TO HACK, 50 U. Mich. J.L. Reform 629,
630 (2017). Scholars have stated that this attacked exposed the failure of our country to develop
effective deterrence protocols as an instrument of our cybersecurity systems. Fidler, David P.
"The U.S. Election Hacks, Cybersecurity, and International Law." AJIL Unbound 110 (2016):
337-42. doi:10.1017/aju.2017.5. Although, cyber attacks are not an anomaly, these recent hacks
impede on the promotion and trajectory of democracy. Id.

Cyberwarfare against State and Local Governments
Banks, corporations, and the federal government are not the only entities at risk of hackers.
Shackelford, Schneier, Sulmeyer, Boustead, Buchanan, Deckard, Herr, Smith, Article, MAKING
DEMOCRACY HARDER TO HACK, 50 U. Mich. J.L. Reform 629, 630 (2017). Several states
have been subject to cyber warfare in recent years as cybercriminals have focused their attacks
on state and local governments. These government entities have become prime targets for cyber
attacks because they often house large reserves of citizen data including social security numbers,
financial records, and other sensitive information. In addition, these government entities are the
gatekeepers of critical infrastructures, such as waste maintenance plants, water supply systems,
and power lines. Consequently, cyber criminals have and will likely continue to exploit any
weakness they find in order to breach these gold mines of proprietary information.

In October of 2014, the city of Phoenix’s entire computer network was disabled after a group of
hackers initiated a denial of service (DoS) attack, interrupting the city’s police department
computers and the city’s website. Cyber Threats Facing State and Local Government. Accenture
Consulting. Accenture. 2016. Accessed July 30, 2017.
https://www.accenture.com/t20160913T145717__w__/us-en/_acnmedia/PDF-30/Accenture-
Cyber-Threats-Facing-State-Local-Government.pdf. That same month, the Employment
Department of Oregon released that, due to a cyber attack, the social security numbers of over
850,000 registrants were compromised. Id. In June of 2016, the hacker known under the alias
“NSA” offered to sell driver’s license information of more than 290,000 Louisiana citizens. Id.
He accessed this information after breaching the networks of several Louisiana organizations. Id.
22 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – August 2017 Edition
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