CJ Day
The Cowboy State will not become the Computer State anytime soon, it seems.
Wyoming is ranked last in cybersecurity protections, according to a recent study published by Comparitech ranking each state based on their online privacy laws.
Wyoming received a score of 5%, with only one protection out of the 20 that the study tested for. That’s the lowest score out of any of the fifty states, much lower than the national average of 23% and the highest score of 75% which was earned by California. According to the study, Wyoming lags behind because its laws are lacking even the most basic protections that other states have.
“While not all states have shield laws to protect journalists from exposing their sources, Wyoming is the only state that doesn’t even have a court precedent for doing so,” the study states. “Companies are not required to dispose of users’ personal data after a set period of time, and employers are not barred from forcing employees to hand over passwords to social media accounts.”
Though the results of this study may seem alarming to those without specific computer knowledge, others in the state said Wyoming’s cybersecurity outlook is not as gloomy as it is made out to be. Laura Baker, the acting executive director of CyberWyoming, a Laramie-based nonprofit dedicated to improving cybersecurity around the state, said the Comparitech study misrepresents the reality of the state’s situation.
“There are much better studies out there,” she said. “This was just a study on the laws that each state has on the books. Wyoming isn’t necessarily a legislative state. We don’t have a lot of laws.”
Many of the metrics Comparitech tested for are covered at the federal level in Wyoming, said Baker. For example, the study docked Wyoming for lack of protections on K-12 student data, but federal laws like the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act already protect this data. In addition, the study tested for many laws that only a couple of states had, meaning that many states failed to garner a score above 20%.
“Wyoming does face challenges for cyber security,” said Baker. “But I think it’s more in cyber hygiene than it is in data privacy laws. We know each other in Wyoming, but we don’t know everybody on the Internet.”
Wyoming does still face problems with its cybersecurity, however.
Baker cited a 2018 study sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that found Wyoming’s reported monetary losses due to online scams and other cyber strategies doubled from 2017 to 2018. However, CyberWyoming will continue to work with local businesses to try to bring the Cowboy State up to the digital age.
