Cybersecurity improvements coming to Adams County

QUINCY (WGEM) - Tens of thousands of dollars are coming to improve cybersecurity protections in Adams County.

The Adams County Board voted last week to approve using $81,000 in ARPA funds to pay for a software system upgrade to better protect against attacks, including ransomware.

Finance chair Brett Austin said an incident about three years ago prompted them to start analyzing the need for improvements.

“We had a small virus attack on our ambulance building department network which was pretty well contained and we also maintain an 911 system here in Adams County as a joint partnership with the city so we are always very careful about that one because if that goes down we are at a really risky position,” he said.

County IT director David Hochgraber said they have been working for the past three years to make improvements.

He said this will grant will finally allow the county the ability to protect its critical data.

“We handle the treasurer, the assessors office, the court systems, we handle the jail, 911, we handle all your elections so having us be attacked is a pretty crucial incident that a lot of those services could go down,” he said.

The software upgrade also includes a 24-hour monitoring system which can detect any potential attacks or suspicious activity and notify them.

Hochgraber said in the case of a ransomware attack, they have protocols in place to address the issue and work to keep operations running.

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