Page 203 - Cyber Defense eMagazine September 2025

Securing the Mission: Why External Cyber Defense is

Essential for Government and Education

By Amit Weigman, Office of the CTO, Check Point Software Technologies

In the past few years, ransomware crews and nation-state hackers have turned America’s state agencies,
city halls, and school systems into prime hunting grounds. Budget-strapped information-security teams
that once weathered the occasional intrusion now face a relentless barrage of extortion, data theft, and
disruptive campaigns. The shift is no accident; wars, realignments in global politics, and the
industrialization of cyber crime have lowered the technical and financial barriers to launching
sophisticated attacks. Criminal syndicates freely purchase tooling once reserved for intelligence services,
while state-sponsored groups borrow from the playbooks of profit-driven hackers. For the public sector,
especially the State, Local, and Education (SLED) vertical, the threat surface has never been broader or
more complex.

Cyber Defense eMagazine – September 2025 Edition 203
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