Pay now or pay later.

• Author: Kirsch, Cassandra
• Position: TRENDS & TRANSITIONS - Cyber security

Media reports of cyber attacks tend to focus on high-profile federal agencies and corporations, but hackers also prey on state governments, as the breach of South Carolina's Department of Revenue database last fall demonstrated.

Stolen were nearly 3.6 million Social Security numbers and nearly 400,000 credit/debit card numbers, affecting more than three-quarters of South Carolina's 4.6 million residents. So far, the attack has cost the state $20 million for credit monitoring, security upgrades and consultants.

South Carolina's experience is a grim reminder of why robust cyber security has become so critical. Yet only 24 percent of state chief information officers said they were "very confident" their networks were adequately protected against external cyber threats in a 2012 survey by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers and Deloitte professional services.

This year, lawmakers in at least 17 states, including South Carolina, have introduced legislation to beef up computer security. The South Carolina measure would overhaul the state's existing system with a new division of information security within the Division of Information Security to set and oversee state standards. The bill would authorize free credit checks for residents for 10 years to help thwart identity theft and create a permanent nine-member committee to continually evaluate state cyber security laws.

Bills in Hawaii, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota and South Carolina call for mandatory reviews of state cyber security systems and vulnerabilities. Measures in Hawaii, Michigan and South Carolina would create councils or other authorities to review existing cyber security measures, and newly enacted legislation in...