Building Incident Response Plans That Work Without Key Personnel
Cybersecurity incident response plans often depend on experienced employees who understand critical systems, security configurations, and recovery procedures. When those employees are unavailable, organizations may struggle to contain attacks or restore operations.
The first requirement is identifying dependencies on individual employees. One administrator may control firewall configurations, identity management, or security monitoring. Without that person, responders may lack the knowledge or permissions needed to contain an attack. Assigning backups reduces these dependencies.
The second is cross-training personnel. Security responders and IT leaders need enough familiarity with critical systems to assume responsibilities when colleagues are absent. Written procedures help, but employees also need practical experience executing them.
The third is testing response plans under realistic constraints. Tabletop exercises can simulate unavailable personnel, simultaneous incidents, and communication failures. These tests reveal whether backup staff can make decisions and execute recovery procedures independently.
An effective response plan must work even when critical personnel are unavailable. Cross-training, documented procedures, and regular exercises help organizations maintain that capability.
Free Cybersecurity Assessments and Exercises for State and Local Governments
Fractional Source and Sourcewell Ventures are expanding their cybersecurity pilot to state and local governments, offering free assessments and exercises to help agencies prepare for cyber incidents.
Community Spotlight: Mayor Brandon Scott, Baltimore: Municipal ID Program to Address Identification Barriers
Brandon M. Scott became Baltimore’s 53rd mayor in December 2020, at age 36, making him the youngest mayor in the city's history. He won the general election with 70.49% of the vote after leading 24 candidates in the Democratic primary. Scott succeeded Jack Young, under whom he served as City Council president. His campaign pledged to reduce homicides by 15% annually and bring the yearly total below 300.
Born in Baltimore in 1984, Scott grew up in Park Heights and graduated from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2006 with a political science degree. He began his career as a liaison for City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Elected to the City Council in 2011, he represented the 2nd District, chaired the Public Safety Committee, and helped establish Baltimore’s open data policy in 2018.
Public safety has been central to his administration. The city launched the Group Violence Reduction Strategy in the Western Police District in January 2022, and gun violence in that district fell 33.8% by December of that year. Baltimore recorded 133 homicides in 2025, a 31% drop from the prior year, and nonfatal shootings fell from 423 to 311. Since 2021, homicides are down 58.7%, and nonfatal shootings are down 57.3%. The 2025 results marked the third straight year of double-digit declines, and juvenile homicide victims fell 78% from 2024.
The city is now preparing to launch a municipal ID program. Scott introduced the legislation as a councilman, and the City Council approved it in December 2016. The program sat dormant for years without funding for implementation until Councilwoman Odette Ramos revived it in 2022. The city set aside about $1.35 million in its FY2026 budget to implement it.
The Baltimore City Office of Information Technology will administer the ID program. Kenya Asli, the office’s broadband and digital equity director, presented it to the City Council. An interagency council representing the Health Department, Recreation and Parks, and Office of LGBTQ Affairs supports implementation. The city has established a dedicated team and recruited marketing and program management staff.
The Board of Estimates approved $665.85 in gift cards for pilot focus group participants. The ID will be free for all Baltimore residents, who must provide three points of documentation. Passports, state IDs, and permanent resident cards qualify for three points, birth certificates and correctional release documents for two, and school, employment, or union records for one. All city agencies must accept the fraud-resistant card without imposing additional identification requirements. It will be valid only within Baltimore.
The office will not retain cardholdersʼ names, addresses, or application documents, and it is evaluating vendors for software that keeps submitted information private and encrypted. The card cannot serve as a driverʼs license, proof of immigration status, or identification for air travel. A pilot is set for fall 2027, with full implementation expected by early 2028.
Baltimore examined municipal ID programs in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City, and Detroit before developing its own. The initiative completes an effort Scott began as a councilman in 2016. City law identifies immigrants, people experiencing homelessness, transgender residents, seniors, young people, and formerly incarcerated people as groups facing barriers to government identification. The card provides identification that every city agency must accept. Asli described the program as an effort to strengthen civic inclusion while making the ID available to all Baltimore residents.
Modernizing public safety takes the right technology and the right expertise to put it to work. Fractional Source connects public agencies with experienced leaders who can help implement innovative solutions, strengthen essential services, and prepare for growing community demands, on your terms and your timeline. Book a quick call with the Fractional Source team.
QUICK HIT NEWS
The Government Finance Officers Association has launched GovFi, a for-profit venture that works as a software company, innovation lab, and technology accelerator. It will validate problems with government finance officers, build solutions in-house or with partners, pilot them in government settings, and invest in the solutions that can scale. James Ha serves as board president and interim CEO. GovFi is now asking finance officers to submit problems and companies to submit technology.
Missouri has launched Show Me Your Age, an app that lets retailers, venues, and public entities verify customer ages for alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis. Staff can scan the barcode on a driverʼs license or enter a birth date by hand, and the app prompts a physical inspection when a scan raises doubts about validity. ID data is processed only on the userʼs device, and the app does not store, transmit, or retain personal information. The stateʼs Information Technology Services Division built it with the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control and the Departments of Health and Senior Services and Revenue.
A breach at Frontline Education, which sells school administration software, exposed data from customer districts after attackers used a flaw in a third-party product to reach part of its environment. The affected products are Frontline Central and School Health Management. Methuen Public Schools in Massachusetts reported that 1,610 employees may be affected, with addresses, email addresses, and Social Security numbers possibly exposed. Districts in Connecticut and South Carolina were also hit. Frontline identified the breach in August, fixed the vulnerability, and brought in law enforcement and an independent cybersecurity firm.
The Fullerton, California, City Council voted 3 to 1 on October 6 to suspend the city’s 19 Flock Safety license plate reader cameras for six months while it holds a town hall and reviews police use of the system. Council members cited privacy and Fourth Amendment concerns. Police say the cameras have helped recover 274 stolen vehicles and locate 18 missing persons. The contract, about $51,000 a year, remains in effect, and the city’s 30-day retention policy will delete stored data. The council is expected to revisit the program around April.
FOR THE COMMUTE
Inside Minnesotaʼs $40 Million Bet on IT Modernization (Priorities Podcast)
Jon Eichten, commissioner of Minnesota IT Services and the stateʼs chief information officer, explains how Minnesota is using a $40 million Technology Modernization Fund to replace aging systems and speed up projects across agencies. The fund replaced separate funding for each project with an enterprise approach and has backed more than 50 projects across 28 agencies. Eichten discusses what makes the model work despite tight budgets and competing priorities, and what other states can learn from an approach that earned NASCIO recognition in 2026.
RESOURCES & EVENTS
📅 Going Passwordless (Virtual - October 27, 2026)
Harvard University security and identity leaders will describe the universityʼs phased move to passwordless login across a large, diverse campus community. Nathan Hall, Erin Courville, and Gretchen Gingo will discuss privacy concerns, resistance from faculty and staff, and the decision to offer users several passwordless options. Moderator Brian Cohen will guide a conversation on the timeline, unexpected roadblocks, and new attack methods that may follow once passwords are no longer the main target.
📅 New York City Technology Forum 2026 (Brooklyn, NY - December 10-11, 2026)
Government Technology hosts this free forum for public sector leaders at the Brooklyn Bridge. The first day features the Best of New York City Awards and two general sessions. The second day offers sessions on practical AI use, digital twins, legacy modernization, cyber resilience, procurement, and cross-agency data sharing, and closes with a look back at 25 years of digital government.
📊 Report Spotlight: A Nationwide Study of Interstate Ramp Parking (Altitude)
This study, prepared with HNTB, analyzed telematics data from heavy trucks between November 2024 and October 2025. It identified about 120,000 ramp stops lasting 9 to 12 hours and projects roughly 330,000 such events nationwide each year, or about 900 per day. The median trip before ramp parking covered 520 miles over 9 hours and 40 minutes, close to the federal 11-hour driving limit. Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, California, and Pennsylvania lead the states, and Atlanta and Indianapolis lead the metro areas. About 30% of these events occur in rural counties, and most begin between 8 p.m. and midnight. The report advises state transportation agencies to use the data to support federal grant requests and to focus new parking capacity on long-haul corridors.
INSIGHT OF THE WEEK
State and local governments facing budget shortfalls risk increasing future expenses by cutting employee training, delaying infrastructure maintenance, and relying on fines and fees. Deferred maintenance can lead to more expensive repairs, while fines disproportionately affect lower-income households. These measures may provide immediate savings but create larger financial obligations and service problems over time.
