Just last month, two large American cities — Atlanta and Baltimore —  were hacked. In Atlanta, a ransomware attack left the city’s services offline for a week. And, in Baltimore, their 311 and 911 dispatch systems were taken down.

It’s more evidence that cities and counties —  as well as our federal government —  need to think about cybersecurity, according to Donald Norris, professor emeritus of public policy at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

He and a group of researchers conducted the first-ever nationwide survey of local government cybersecurity and found that they are far behind where they should be.