Three years ago, Governor Kristi Noem rejected millions of dollars the Biden Administration offered to bolster cybersecurity in South Dakota, all to bolster Noem’s selective posturing against the Biden Administration and “wasteful”, stringy federal funding.
Noem’s prioritization of political grandstanding over addressing ongoing security threats has cost South Dakota at least as much as the federal grant Noem turned down:
South Dakota turned down millions of dollars in federal cybersecurity grants and instead is spending more than $7 million in state taxpayer funds to battle what has become a constant threat of attacks on computer systems used by government, industry and individuals.
In addition to recent high-profile cyberattacks on government operations in Pennington County, Rapid City and Mitchell, the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office receives frequent reports of digital information breaches.
Over the past five years, the agency has had 1,062 online security breaches reported to its Consumer Affairs Division, including 127 so far in 2026, according to agency data.
…Recent cyberattacks on local governments have only heightened concerns that systems are being targeted by either organized crime groups seeking ransom or by foreign adversaries such as Russia, China or Iran, which is currently engaged in a war with the United States.
Experts theorize that Iran-backed hackers are responsible for large-scale cyberattacks on communication systems in Pennington County and the city of Mitchell as well as breaches into water systems in Minnesota and possibly up to a dozen more states [Bart Pfankuch, “SD Taxpayers Spend Millions on Cyberattacks After Federal Grant Rejected,” South Dakota News Watch, 2026.08.17].
Just think: if South Dakota had accepted the Biden Administration’s help, we could have invested those millions in harder networks for Pennington County, Mitchell, and elsewhere. We could have saved not only on the money the Legislature appropriated to fill the gap Noem left in state spending on anti-hacking measures but also the damages local governments have had to spend to recover from the attacks Noem might have prevented if she hadn’t been so blinded by her partisanship.