The Governor’s Resilience and Infrastructure Task Force, or GRIT, is making recommendations to the state and federal governments.
Gov. Larry Rhoden created GRIT this summer. It serves as an advisory body to assess risks and vulnerabilities in South Dakota’s infrastructure systems.
The task force is recommending one-time funding for three infrastructure investments:
- Hardening systems and equipment at the Bureau of Information and Technology to guard against service outages, such as the outage that occurred in August;
- Cloud-based backup to the state radio, which plays a key role in public safety communications; and
- A nuclear energy study to ensure an "all-of-the-above" energy approach. The GRIT task force says more energy flexibility leads to a more stable energy supply.
The GRIT task force also approved a letter to the state’s Congressional Delegation. It supports the renewal and extension of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015, which expires Jan. 30.
GRIT also endorsed a policy bill this upcoming legislative session, which would expand the use of the Dakota State University’s SecureSD: Cybersecurity for Municipalities and Counties Initiative. The initiative is possible through previous legislation. It aims to strengthen the cybersecurity posture of municipalities, counties and local governments across the state through things like training and creating secure email solutions. GRIT supported legislation that would allow the program to cover non-profit utility companies such as rural water systems.
