Remember last month’s ransomware attack on Akron, Ohio? Well, it seems like the city has not managed to recover completely. Interestingly, amidst the ransomware removal and recovery processes, there have been some interesting discussions among the council members. The latest scoop is that the council has decided to adopt a permanent cybersecurity solution to prevent similar attacks in the future.
Cloud in the Mix
Russel Neal, who is a Ward 4 councilman, explained that the city plans to go for cloud migration for its public systems in the near future. In order to achieve this objective, they are searching to initiate a partnership with a cybersecurity company. Neal is positive that such an alliance would ensure that the city’s defenses are bolstered against the ever-changing cyberattacks, particularly ransomware strains as the ransomware removal battle from last month is yet to finish.
Neal is wary and believes that the threat of cyberwarfare will continue to haunt humans in the future. The cyberattack on 22nd January was contained in a short period of time. However, the initial impact of the malware was potent enough to disable the public components of the city’s system. Most notably, 311 systems were affected badly during a two-week snowstorm.
Mayo Dan Horrigon appealed to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine for National Guard assistance. The FBI soon come into play and helped the National Guard’s cybersecurity personnel to begin investigation. It is expected that the investigation may extend over months.
After the attack on the city’s systems, an ad hoc committee was setup for investigation. Neal was also called in the meeting to take part in the on-going proceedings. Neal explained how the council was discussing various solutions in order to strengthen the security of the city’s systems. Ultimately, he was certain that cloud computing is the solution to the city’s worries.
Neal’s support for the cloud is not without a reason. He backed up by his stance by illustrating the fact that 85% of the cities have already adopted cloud-based systems to power their online systems. The city expects that after partnering with a cybersecurity brand, its IT infrastructure can become updated and keep future cyberattacks at bay.
Neal also outlined the examples of IT giants like IBM. He stated that companies like IBM have sufficient resources to ensure that they are able to stop anyone from into breaking in their systems. To elaborate further, he recalled the case study of Seat Pleasant in Maryland. The city successfully partnered with IBM. As a result, the city’s 4,000 residents can use modern cybersecurity tools.
