Pennington County residents haven’t been able to access some services since a cyberattack knocked out county computer systems in July. The water system in Rapid City, which is part of Pennington County, was among the first of dozens of utilities targeted in a nationwide wave of cyberattacks this summer. The attackers did not access its network in Rapid City, city officials said. Mitchell, meanwhile, is recovering from its own breach, which left city staff without computer access. The three incidents — all hitting South Dakota local governments within weeks of each other — underscore a vulnerability that state officials have spent years and millions of dollars trying to address. Local governments hold sensitive taxpayer data, but often lack the staff, budget or expertise to protect it from cyberattacks. A 2025 report by the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center found that 68% of state, local, tribal and territorial governments lack the budget to address major cybersecurity priorities, and that small and rural communities are especially vulnerable. A state-funded program in South Dakota is working to close that gap — but time and money are running short. STATE FUNDING IN PLACE OF DECLINED FEDERAL FUNDING SecureSD is a $7 million program run by the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office and Dakota State University that delivers cybersecurity tools, training and technical support to local governments. Lawmakers launched the program with funds in 2024 in response to Gov. Kristi Noem rejecting a piece of $1 billion in cybersecurity grants to states. Noem spokesman Ian Fury told South Dakota Searchlight at the time that the grants were “wasteful spending,” adding the administrative burden of the grant “would have far exceeded the allowable administrative cost.” That 2022 four-year federal grant program, part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, faces an uncertain future. Congress