SC security efforts may cost $27M

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COLUMBIA (AP) — South Carolina may spend $27 million next fiscal year on continued efforts to secure taxpayers' personal data and provide another year of credit protection following the 2012 hacking at the state's tax collection agency. The state budget may also require all state agencies to adopt and implement cyber-security standards. Nineteen months after a cyber-thief stole unencrypted data of 6.4 million residents and businesses from the Department of Revenue, it's unclear how agencies are safeguarding their own data. Budget and Control Board director Marcia Adams says state law doesn't give her agency's information technology division the authority to assess agencies' progress or make policies mandatory. A clause in the House's budget plan for 2014-15 provides that authority. The Senate Finance Committee last week put a similar clause in its budget plan.