To Fend Off Hackers, Local Governments Get Help From States

The city of Mill Creek, Washington, has only 55 full-time employees and just one of them — James Busch — is responsible for handling information technology and cybersecurity. He worries about the growing sophistication of hackers and cybercriminals and the city computer network’s vulnerabilities. So when the Washington State Auditor’s Office started offering local governments a free, in-depth evaluation of their cybersecurity systems, Mill Creek, a city of about 20,000 near Seattle, jumped at the chance in 2015.