An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, at least when it comes to your municipality’s firewall.
That message emerged from the latest episode of WNHH FM’s “The Municipal Voice,” hosted by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.
On this episode, Kurt Miller, first selectman of Seymour, and Dale Bruckhart of Digital Back Office discussed a recent IT upgrade the town made that was sure to save a lot of future heartache.
It was after a consultation with Digital Back Office that Seymour realized the state of its existing firewall: upwards of 43,000 vulnerabilities were being passed through, including 57 high-risk applications.
With this report, Kurt Miller decided to incorporate firewall upgrades into Seymour’s ten-year strategic plan. That course of action allowed the town to merge the technology streams of both the municipality and the Board of Education.
Rob Dyer, the director technology for the school system, is now able to look at one stream of information, find redundancies and efficiencies, and over the long run, save the town money. This is especially true of viruses and ransomware, which are a very real threat to towns and cities.
Dale Bruckhart spoke about the vulnerabilities that led to Atlanta paying almost $17 million on a $52,000 ransomware virus.
In the internet of things, systems are more vulnerable to brute force attacks and hidden viruses. Municipalities around the state and country will take out insurance on their buildings, fleet vehicles, and other municipal assets. In 2018 it’s time to think of technology as something that needs protection now, instead of a solution later.
“The Municipal Voice” airs every other Wednesday, the next episode airs on Dec. 5. Listen to the latest episode by clicking on the video above in this story.
