The evolving landscape of municipal cybersecurity takes center stage, as towns like Gilbert, Arizona, confront the challenges of securing critical infrastructure and data in an era marked by rapid technological changes and increasing reliance on cloud technologies.

Adopting a strategic outlook is important for tackling the intricate tasks involved in supporting a population of 281,000 and delivering essential infrastructure services, according to Tony Bryson (pictured), chief information security officer of the Town of Gilbert.

“I had to come in and start putting together a strategic perspective on how to secure our systems, how to prepare ourselves for future changes that are going to impact us as far as the evolution of technology goes,” he said. “It’s been a bit of a challenge, but ultimately it’s been fun day-to-day, really looking at technology, making sure that we have the appropriate processes in place to take on new and evolving technology and make sure we do so with security in mind.”

Bryson spoke with theCUBE industry analyst Dave Vellante at the Cyber Resiliency Summit, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the challenges of securing critical infrastructure services and preparing for the evolving landscape of technology. (* Disclosure below.)

Digital resilience

It’s crucial to translate strategic visions into actionable plans and to recognize the need for the right human resources and technology partners, according to Bryson. The evolving nature of technology and the challenges of adapting to new security measures show the importance of aligning security strategies with evolving business objectives.

“Really putting together a strategy is putting pen to paper and trying to understand where your organization is going, understanding what its business objectives are and making sure that we have the technology in place that can support those particular business objectives,” Bryson said.

An immutable data set that can be quickly restored in the event of a cyber incident would be key to avoiding additional issues, Bryson added. Resilience is now a top priority, considering the heightened expectations of digital citizens for immediate responses and service continuity.

“People have very much become digital citizens, and they’re used to that immediate response they get from doing everything online and digitally,” he said. “When we have some type of physical solution that experiences some type of disruption, the expectation is that we still have to get that recovered as quickly as possible so that our customers are getting the same type of response they do from all of those digital interactions that they have.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Cyber Resiliency Summit:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the “Cyber Resiliency Summit.” Neither Dell Technologies Inc., the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE