The Warren County Emergency Management Agency announced on Oct. 28 that it received a cybersecurity grant for $16,134.76 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
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The Warren County Emergency Management Agency announced on Oct. 28 that it received a cybersecurity grant for $16,134.76 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The grant is through FEMA’s State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program which is distributed to local emergency agencies.
Warren County EMA Director Jim Sharp said the grant will be used to continue their efforts protecting the county’s IT systems from both accidents and malicious attacks.
Sharp continued saying he could not disclose the exact purchases made for security reasons; it largely included equipment like fresh laptops and cellphones that could be implemented in the event of a communication outage.
“It includes anything we would need to replicate what (communications systems) we have,” said Sharp.
Since the new equipment is unused, in the event of an attack or outage to the county’s network, it would not be impacted and would be used to bring those systems back online.
He also said the equipment is deployable and available to other municipalities in the area that may find themselves in need.
Warren County is required to match 25% of the grant’s funds, bringing the total to $20,168.45.
Sharp said one of the main objectives with the grant is to decrease the county’s recovery time objectives.
The recovery time objectives are how quickly they are able to get essential, or “mission critical,” systems back up and running in the event of an attack, and respond faster to identify and deal with any threats.
He continued, saying while Warren County may not be “on the top of some malicious actor’s target list,” the dangers of cyberattacks on public institutions are only increasing.
“Realistically, cyber threats have done nothing but grow over the past 10 years and exponentially over the last five years,” said Sharp.
He also pointed to a change in the nature of cyberattacks as malware, malicious software, becomes more accessible and easier to use.
Malware can be used to threaten or damage IT systems and to steal information. One common form is ransomware, which takes a victim's computer or data hostage and requests a form of payment to return control.
