The Village of Innsbrook Board of Trustees unanimously approved a bill to have NOC Technologies migrate the village to a new website domain during their meeting March 19.

NOC representatives John Lober and Nathan Hooker were present during the meeting to discuss the security benefits of moving from the city’s current system to a new domain. Currently, the village’s website is villageofinnsbrook.org. Officials are looking at changing the domain to villageofinnsbrook.gov.

Board Chair Cynthia Bowers said NOC was contacted to inform the board on the benefits of moving to a new domain.

Hooker said the value add of the process is the reputation that comes with moving to a government-related domain. Hooker said it begins with the .gov registrar. The process then goes through a Microsoft application process which will allow for separate pools for servers. He noted that .gov servers are much more secure, immensely more secure than the village’s current setup.

Bowers said the village has had two maybe three incidents where cyber-criminals got into the village’s system, but were caught in time before they lost any information.

“What I’d like to do is to re-enforce that going to the .gov platform will help us be more secure as a governmental entity against cyber-criminals,” Bowers said.

Hooker said it would have a base level improvement, but that other add-ons would better enhance the village’s online security.

Trustee Mike Caton asked if the change would require the trustees to change their emails from their current gmail accounts? Hooker said long-term the village should get all emails behind .gov protection.

Lober said his company can’t control security in a gmail account.

“Nobody in this facility should have a gmail account period,” Lober said, suggesting that the use of such accounts should be eliminated quickly. He said having such accounts increases the risk of outside influence.

The trustees voted unanimously 5-0 to approve the transition to a new website domain, though no final cost was provided during or after the meeting.

The board also discussed moving forward with a proposal from Freedom Security for security services for the village. It was decided to have Freedom provide a proposed contract to the village for formal approval at a later date.

The board also approved moving forward with Pezz Lawncare and Landscaping to perform landscaping duties for the village hall. No specifics were outlined, the board decided to have Pezz provide a contract with specific proposals to the board for their final approval at their April meeting.