The state of Indiana wants municipalities’ data — to study, learn and better protect them from nasty bugs and costly hijackings, say the agencies responsible for its technology.
Members of the Indiana Office of Technology and Indiana Information Sharing Analysis Center joined State Rep. Mike Andrade, D-Munster, at the Wicker Park Social Center Wednesday morning to talk to talk to municipal IT professionals about new and ongoing initiatives the state is undertaking to improve its cybersecurity. Twenty IT executives from the public, private and law enforcement sectors discussed the ways in which the parties can collaborate and save each other from harm.
Their initiative comes on the heels of a new state law that requires state agencies and public subdivisions “report any cybersecurity incident to the office without unreasonable delay and not later than two business days after discovery of the cybersecurity incident.” While municipalities are now required to file these reports, ISAC hopes municipalities will be comfortable reporting incidents of malware, viruses or, in the bigger cases, such as municipality’s servers being hijacked for ransom, so that the agency can warn other agencies that attacks are out there as they happen.
“Often in state government, the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. But if East Chicago is doing well, Munster does well; and if Munster does well, so does Evansville,” Andrade said. “(By reporting the information), what we’re doing is for the people behind us.”
Among the services IOT provides municipalities now is hosting, said its deputy chief technology officer Mike White. IOT would provide the tools and teach city and town representatives how to manage their content as well as help set up bill-paying systems, he said, adding that 40 municipalities around the state have signed on. If nothing else, IOT is happy to set up an in.gov suffix for municipality email addresses, which provides a better level of security.
“I received an email from a police chief with the email address of pookiebear,” White said. “I was like, “Do I call you “Chief” or “Pookiebear?”‘ If you currently have a .com or .org address, talk to me.”
The discussion then turned to improving communication between communities.
Taylor Hollenbeck, IOT’s director of Intergovernmental Affairs, assured them they would be, especially since there’s a lot of money out there for the municipalities’ taking.
“We’re finding that entities applying for federal grants without an in.gov address are having trouble getting through,” she said.
Stahl said that all information collected by the agencies would be kept private other than the attack’s nature when distributed to people on its list.
Rep. Earl Harris, D-East Chicago, who co-sponsored the bill, said he and is co-sponsors recognize the bill is only the first step, but it is a step in the right direction.
“People use technology for bad stuff, so this provides a system to report if someone goes after one part of the state,” he said.
Municipalities interested in information about hosting services should contact 317-234-4357.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
