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State IT director says security is a top priority

The state’s information technology director says security will be one of his top priorities in his budget request for the 2015 Legislature.

"We're seeing it every day, whether it's private companies or public entities, there are issues with breaches," said Mike Ressler. He says his team is putting together some ideas for a security initiative. Ressler says it can be a “cat and mouse” game.

"It seems like the good guys catch up, and figure out how the bad guys did that," said Ressler. "It takes a year before the bad guys think of a new way to do something, and then deploy it. The good guys find out about that, and you fund new technologies to fight it."

Ressler says the initiative will include education on how to keep personal information out of the hands of hackers.

"One of our biggest fears is not the technology," said Ressler. "It's the ability for scammers to get people to give up their passwords. They're called 'phishing' attempts."

Ressler says a lot of the big security breaches you see today have that as the center.

"The bad guys are getting the good guys to actually trust them," said Ressler.

He says the plan is still being drafted for presentation to Gov. Jack Dalrymple and state legislators.

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