Memorandum  PERAC Memo #25: Cybersecurity Training

Date:	11/03/2023
Referenced Sources:	PERAC Website

PERAC Memo #25, 2023

To All Retirement Boards:

M E M O R A N D U M

TO:                 All Retirement Boards

FROM:           John W. Parsons, Esq., Executive Director

RE:                 Cybersecurity Training

DATE:           November 3, 2023

We are pleased to inform retirement board administrators and staff again this year that a free cybersecurity training offered by the state’s Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (EOTSS) is available to you.

The program is called the Municipal Cybersecurity Awareness Grant Program. There are four optional informational webinars on November 8 and 15 and December 6 and 13. More information, webinar registration and the application are all available at the above link. Applications will close when all available spaces have been taken or January 10, 2024, whichever occurs first, so EOTSS encourages applications to be filed as soon as possible.

A number of retirement boards participated in the program in 2023 and found it beneficial without being overbearing. Middlesex County Retirement Board Chairman Tom Gibson offered the following regarding his staff’s experience with the training:

“The grant program has provided our staff with the opportunity to improve its cyberthreat awareness in the workplace. Each quarter, staff members completed customized cybersecurity trainings which emphasized best cybersecurity practices, including pin and password protection, how to recognize phishing campaigns and email scams, the importance of protecting member data, and the like. The informative modules were interactive and each assignment took a reasonable length of time such that it did not overly burden staff workload (much like the on-line State Ethics training which is required every two years). We believe that this emphasis on end-user training is well worth the time investment to ensure that staff is taking the necessary measures to ensure our members’ information, and the System’s data, is secure.” 

Each participant must have an email address tied to the retirement board’s web domain. It can’t be a Gmail or Yahoo email account, it needs to be for example @prescottretirementboard.com, @town.enfield.ma.us, @greenwich-ma.gov or any of the many other variations. Also, each participating retirement board needs to designate a contact/local coordinator who will attend a training session and act as the point person for this program.

This is the fifth year of the Municipal Cybersecurity Awareness Training program. It has been well received and many agencies are repeat customers as the materials change. Thanks to EOTSS Secretary Jason Snyder for making this program again available to retirement boards.

For further information or any questions email [e-mail].