Delaware County is spending $2.4 million to upgrade its information technology to prevent future hacks like the one from November. Officials ended up paying a $500,000 cyber ransom, writes Kathleen E. Carey for the Daily Times.
County council unanimously approved the funds. They will cover $335,000 in wages and salaries, $120,000 for consulting fees, $682,577 for licensing, and $282,000 for other services.
In exchange, the county gets system security and operating improvements, training, digital archives, financial system maintenance, data management, web development, infrastructure engineering and architecture, and project support.
The information technology costs for the new health department will also be covered by the allocation, costing $858,957 for items like backup server space, a mobile audiovisual unit, additional storage, and uninterrupted power supply units for IT data closets.
County Chief Information Officer Frank Bilotta explained the current status of the county’s system.
“In terms of the current state, over the past seven months, my evaluation is that really urgent requests overwhelm the ability to do basic support and maintenance,” said Bilotta in explaining the upgrades. “And, I would say ultimately, that … item is the reason for our susceptibility to the attack in November.”
Read more at the Daily Times about the IT investment.
Here are some ways that hackers get access to computers.
