FAIRFAX COUNTY VIRGINIA
Fairfax County’ s commitment to digital resilience Located in the heart of Virginia, Fairfax county serves over one million residents and operates extensive digital infrastructure. This scale presents unique challenges in balancing security requirements with accessibility and public service delivery.
With this in mind, the county’ s enterprise-wide IT risk management programme is designed to be both comprehensive and intentional. Michael says that what makes it so effective is that it’ s built not just to“ check compliance boxes”, but to“ ensure the security, resilience and trustworthiness of every county service that touches technology”.
He adds:“ What makes it effective is that it’ s embedded at every level, from our core Information Technology Security Policy, which outlines the minimumsecurity requirements across all platforms, to aggressive, ongoing risk assessments that inform action and accountability.”
The cybersecurity programme operates under a robust vulnerability and risk management model, which means the county is constantly assessing its security posture, validating controls and adapting to evolving digital threats. This is undertaken on a continuous cycle, with the programme covering every county IT asset across every platform and department to ensure there are no blind spots in infrastructure, applications or operations.
“ We take compliance seriously, aligning with federal, state and local requirements, from HIPAA and PCI-DSS to NIST guidelines and we have
“ At the end of the day, you’ re securing not just infrastructure, but democracy at the local level”
MICHAEL T. DENT, STRATEGIC LIAISON TO THE CIO AND CISO, FAIRFAX COUNTY VIRGINIA
governance structures in place to ensure that alignment isn’ t just documented, but operationalised,” Michael says.“ Our Governance, Risk and Compliance( GRC) approach is a cornerstone. Within Fairfax County Public Schools, for example, the Office of Cybersecurity includes a dedicated GRC team, reflecting how seriously we take not only risk identification but ownership and follow-through.”
The programme is strategically aligned with the Countywide Strategic Plan – a roadmap within Fairfax County that exists to help guide future work based on 10 Community Outcome Areas.
“ That’ s important, because cybersecurity isn’ t isolated from community outcomes,” Michael emphasises.“ Whether we’ re enabling digital equity or safeguarding critical infrastructure, our goal is the same: to provide the residents of Fairfax County with secure, reliable access to services they depend on.
“ We built a programme that’ s both technically sound and strategically aligned and that’ s why it works.”
6 fairfaxcounty. gov