Cyber attacks are common these days.
Consider the 145.5 million people whose personal data was stolen this year from Equifax, one of the nation’s three major credit reporting agencies. Or the 3 billion user accounts affected in Yahoo’s breaches in 2013 and 2014. Or 145 million users impacted by an eBay breach in 2014.
But how about on the local level? Is there a reason to sound the alarm over cyber security?
Officials at school districts and municipalities across McKean County –– and throughout the state –– believe so.
Surveys conducted by state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale’s office, and released Thursday, revealed many school districts and municipalities in Pennsylvania are concerned over cybersecurity. What’s more, officials say that they expect the risks of cyber attacks to worsen.
“Cyber security is definitely of concern to us to ensure the protection of our student, staff and financial information,” said Bradford Area School District Superintendent Katy Pude.
Such information that could be at risk include Social Security numbers, tax information and student records, DePasquale said.
“Our technology department personnel are trained and aware of the various threats and have implemented several layers of protection to safeguard our data,” Pude said.
An effective method is operating a closed network that limits the access from outside sources through the use of a firewall solution, she said.
“We also incorporate other network security measures to secure data and have configured our systems to require frequent password changes,” Pude said. “Our email and website services have been removed from inside our network to large data centers and our student information system and financial databases are all hosted ‘off-site’ within a secure data center that has the resources to handle and limit cybersecurity attacks.”
At Otto-Eldred School District, school officials provide guidance to staff regularly when suspicious emails arrive from others within the district, said Otto-Eldred School District Superintendent Matthew Splain.
“Understanding the data you have, the data you need to have and where it is actually located is a starting point to understand potential threats,” he said.
The City of Bradford is also conscious of cybersecurity.
City administrator Teri Cannon said the municipality has an independent computer specialist to assist in maintaining the security of the system, provide frequent updates and recommend advanced anti-virus software that it is monitored each day by Global Tech Force.
“Cyber attacks are becoming more prevalent and the security of sensitive information is of utmost importance to the city,” Cannon said. “It has been stressed to our employees that emails from unknown or suspicious email addresses should not be opened.”
All told, for municipalities, 197 answered, on the survey, that they are very concerned about cybersecurity/information security; 316, somewhat concerned; 178, a little concerned; and 86, not concerned at all. Meanwhile, 85 school districts said they are very concerned about cybersecurity/information security; 68, somewhat concerned; 19, a little concerned; and four, not concerned at all.
The anonymous statewide surveys were conducted over three weeks in August and September, amounting to 954 responses, including 177 from school districts and 777 from municipalities.
“It is not surprising that a majority of respondents indicated they need more resources to prevent, detect and respond to potential cyberattacks,” DePasquale said. “Given the out-of-balance state budget and ongoing financial challenges, we need to find creative ways to help municipalities and schools be better prepared for cyberattacks.”
A total of 753 municipalities and 113 school districts responded to the survey. DePasquale said he has shared the survey results with the governor’s office and state agencies that work directly with local governments and school districts.
The release of the survey results coincides with National Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
