City recognized for having one of the Top 50 cybersecurity programs in the country
(Seguin) — Protecting the City of Seguin’s infrastructure from cybersecurity threats is a top priority for the city’s IT Department. That level of protection in Seguin is now being recognized as one of the best in the country.
Recently, the city learned that its Seguin Cyber Champion Program will be recognized in the nation’s capital as one of the top 50 cybersecurity programs in the country. The city is officially the recipient of the prestigious 2022 CSO Online CSO50 Award.
Seguin in September is set to receive that award and be recognized during a special ceremony in Washington, D.C.
What might even be more impressive for the city of Seguin is that it is the only governmental entity to be recognized in 2022.
Shane McDaniel, director of information and technology for the city of Seguin, says the city joins the elite list of several worldwide companies who will also be honored.
“It’s a lot, I’ve seen some Fortune 500 names. I’m seeing a lot of big names United Airlines, Microsoft, of course, Zoom. These are all big global brands and I can’t believe it’s the city of Seguin named right alongside of it because to me, these corporations have just limitless budgets and all the resources in the world and they can pay their staff just wonderful salaries and what not and here we are the city of Seguin is right alongside of them so apparently, we are doing something right in the name of cyber security as far as the way that we are protecting our environment and our citizens and the things that we are responsible for,” said McDaniel.
The CSO50 awards recognize security projects that demonstrate outstanding thought, leadership, and business value. The award recipients are determined by a panel of judges that include security leaders, industry experts, and academics.
McDaniel says this is truly an organizational award. He says cyber awareness has become embedded in the culture of Seguin. He says Seguin continues to punch above its weight class in so many ways, cybersecurity being the latest example. He says that’s why it is such a privilege to be a part of this organization.
“To me, it’s not necessarily what we are doing per se. Let’s just speak from the context of municipal governments. A lot of municipal governments are doing the same things that we are doing. To me, what makes the city of Seguin special and worthy of recognition is number one, we are kind of doing it more in the rural community – one that may not necessarily associate with high-level cybersecurity or technology in general but to me, what makes it special is the relationship that has been fostered. So, we are doing it in a place that is not Austin. It’s not New York City. It’s not Los Angeles or Dallas. This is the city of Seguin, and we are doing some very impressive things with cybersecurity, and we are doing it with just regular folks, right? Half of my staff graduated from the local ISD, and they are outstanding in what they do. So, we are all kind of putting our heads together. We are pushing forward. We very much have the buy in from council, Mr. (Steve) Parker, the city manager, the department heads. I speak at every new hire orientation on the value of cyber security and the potential impacts to an organization also to a personal level, the awareness training that we do. Again, it’s not the tools and resources that we are using. To me, it’s the relationships, the buy-in, the very much the team effort to build something special,” said McDaniel.
Over the past four years, the city’s IT department has been recognized 11 times both state and nationally. This marks the third year in a row that it has won a national award for various parts of technology.