If you are the IT director, manager, or sole technologist for a city, a county, or a water district, you already know the problem. Most of the guidance is written for organizations with a security team, a large budget, and a long runway. You have a few people, a long list, and a board that wants to know whether the agency is safe.
Securing the Public Trust: A Practical Cybersecurity Playbook for Small and Mid-Sized Municipalities, Utilities, and Public Agencies was written for exactly that situation. And because protecting a public agency is never the work of one person alone, it is worth putting in more than one pair of hands.
Who should have a copy
The obvious reader is the IT director or lead, who gets a practical playbook and a desk reference for the controls that matter most. But the book works better when the whole team shares it. A small team that has the same plan and the same vocabulary is more effective than one where everyone has a different idea of what “secure” means.
It also belongs with the people who oversee and fund the work. The city or county manager, the general manager, or the chief executive has to defend the budget, and it helps to understand what the budget buys. Finance and purchasing staff approve the invoices and benefit from knowing what is being protected. Council members, directors, and audit committee members will find that the chapters on communicating risk make board conversations easier, and department heads and clerks, whose work depends on the systems IT protects, will understand why the rules exist.
What is inside
The book gives you a practical ninety-day action plan built for a small IT team, along with a step-by-step playbook for the controls that actually matter. It offers plain-language guidance for talking to your board about cybersecurity risk, and it is meant to be a desk reference you return to every time something changes.
Why now, before the year ends
Planning for next year is the best time to put a shared reference in front of the people who will make decisions. Budget season is starting, and giving managers and board members the same material before the discussions begin makes the cybersecurity conversation more productive. Year-end is also a natural moment for a kickoff, since a ninety-day plan started in the fall is well under way by the new year. And depending on your fiscal calendar, training and professional development funds may still be available this year. Check your own purchasing policies, because they differ from one agency to the next.
How to order in bulk
Bulk orders of the paperback can be placed directly on robertrasha.com/. Open the Books page, use the bulk order box to choose the number of copies, and you will see your total as you go. You can pay by card, or submit a purchase order if that is how your agency buys. With a purchase order you receive an invoice that adds shipping and any applicable tax, and the books ship as soon as it is paid. For very large orders, or if you need a quote for a conference, a class, or a regional association, use the quote option and I will follow up with you personally.
If your purchasing department needs a document, such as a quote or a vendor information request, send a note through the consultation form and tell me what you need.
Ideas for putting copies to work
A few approaches have worked well for teams. Include a copy in every board or council member’s orientation packet. Start a short staff reading group and work through the ninety-day plan together, a chapter at a time. Give a copy to each new IT hire and to your managed services provider’s account team, so everyone shares the same expectations. And when your next cybersecurity briefing is due, use the board communication chapters to prepare it.
A note on single copies
If you only need one, the quickest route is Amazon, where the book is available in paperback and on Kindle. If you are buying for a team, a bulk order is simpler, because you do not have to place a separate order for each person.
Thank you for the work you do. The residents, ratepayers, and employees you serve rarely see it, but they depend on it every day.
Keep going
If this was useful, you may also want to look at See the book and the bulk order box and Free guides and whitepapers.