Cyber Security

By Terry Baxter, Law Enforcement and Safety Specialist

Held every October, National Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a collaborative effort between governments and industry to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity and to ensure that everyone has the resources they need to be safer and more secure online.

Everyone has a stake in this game and counties need to ensure everyone takes a personal accountability and administrators stress the importance of protective steps to enhance cybersecurity in the workplace.

Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting systems, networks and programs from digital attacks. The attacks are usually aimed at accessing, changing, or destroying sensitive information, extorting money from users or interrupting normal business processes.

It’s difficult to get a proper grip average cybersecurity breach costs, especially when every other day brings news of a new breach but costs are projected over 4 million dollars in 2019, a figure that ups 1.5% from the year prior and 12% increase over the past five years. The United States is one of the most expensive countries in which to experience a data breach.

One of the major breaches that occurred so far in 2019 was to Capital One. Over 80,000 bank account numbers, more than 140,000 Social Security numbers and millions of credit card applications were breached. Investigators indicated data stolen dated back as far as 2005 and the breach could potentially cost more than 300 million dollars.

NIRMA has put together recommended Cybersecurity practices to help you protect the county and the counties information:
1. Set strong passwords (the longer, the stronger)
2. Promote eRisk Hub usage and educate employees
3. Maintain only critical PII (Personal Identifiable Information)
4. Develop server/laptop/portable device security policies
5. Install and maintain critical software updates
6. Maintain current firewall and anti-virus protection
7. Use trusted vendors for data collection
8. Use caution opening websites and emails
9. Adopt equipment disposal policies
10. Adopt employee data access policies

NIRMA Loss Prevention can assist you with policies, training and provide you information on how to self-assess your county from a cybersecurity attack. I know many counties contract their informational services, but educating staff is essential and the
majority of reasons breaches occur is from staff not thinking before clicking.

So, be aware, always connect with care and don’t get “hooked” by Phishers!