KINGWOOD — Preston commissioners took out insurance this week against any cyberattack on county systems — literally.
County Administrator Kathy Mace told commissioners at their last meeting the county could get a $1 million insurance policy for the attacks through its current provider for about $4,000 per fiscal year or for the rest of this fiscal year for about $400 per month.
Mace said she also contacted an independent insurer, who thought it was a good idea to get the insurance as well.
“The cost of a mitigation of a hack or of a virus of that type can be huge, as far as the cost of recovering data, of replacing equipment,” County Network Specialist William Armstrong said. “Because sometimes with these hacks, the only sure way to eliminate it is to take the equipment completely out of service.”
Costs in an attack could be so high, Armstrong said, that in a case like that of an attack in Harrison County, $1 million might not cover all the expenses.
“But it’s sure better than zero,” he said.
County Clerk Linda Huggins said because she has multiple backups, digital and hardcopy, she has been told her data is safe.
“But how much time would it take to redo all that?” Commissioner Don Smith said.
“Not very long,” Huggins replied.
Every office has multiple backups, Armstrong said. But, he said, the problem is the virus can be put into place several months before it is activated, so the backups are corrupt, too.
“To sit here and say you’re never going to get hit with a virus, nobody in the IT business can say that,” Armstrong said.
Hours to rebuild data, “that’s a lot of money, because that’s all you’d be doing,” Smith said. Those expenses are what the policy is aimed at, Commissioner Dave Price said.
Commissioners voted 3-0 to start the policy now, noting they didn’t believe hackers care what fiscal year the county is in.
In other IT matters, Armstrong said the county emergency operating center was activated last week for a mock disaster. They learned a more efficient way to set up the equipment, Armstrong said, and annual mock drills are being discussed.
Also Tuesday, IT Mindshare updated commissioners on its annual plan for keeping county systems current and as safe as possible. Network resilience and efficiency are key, the representatives said. This is the seventh year that Preston County has contracted with IT Mindshare.
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