Another Week of Headlines Dominated by "Cyber Attack"

I have a bad habit: I allow myself to get lost in the news every morning.

This habit doesn’t exactly feed my soul (where are the “good” headlines recently?!), but it does keep me current on what’s happening locally, as well as around the world.

Over the past week, I’ve observed the headlines, even globally, have largely been dominated by the ransomware attack that struck the Colonial Pipeline last week.

At this point, we all have a general understanding of what ransomware is. We also know such attacks are increasing, both in frequency and severity, and that municipal entities are increasingly becoming targets.

In an interview over the weekend, US Commerce Secretary, Gina Raimondo, stated, ransomware attacks “are here to stay and we have to work in partnership with businesses to secure- secure networks, to defend ourselves against these attacks.”

This is true for both private and public organizations, including Iowa public entities.

The thing is, it can be overwhelming trying to understand how we can protect ourselves against such attacks. I mean, where do we even begin to start?

Fortunately for the ICAP membership, Colette Klier, ICAP’s Senior Manager of IT Risk Control, will be providing us all a bit of guidance during a live webinar next Thursday, May 20, from 10-11 AM.

At this point, it’s clear all organizations should have a cyber plan. Join us via Zoom next Thursday and let Colette help your entity get started on one.