Due to an increase in cyber-security incidents impacting Ontario's public sector, information technology (IT) staff at the County of Simcoe say they have a plan in the 2024 budget to conduct a security assessment.
They are also recommending the scope to be increased to include municipal partners.
The Simcoe Community Access Network (SCAN) partners security assessment would include a review of 33 organizations to provide complete view of the external footprint of the county and network partners.
The total cost of the SCAN partners security assessment is approximately $200,000.
The county’s IT department has $50,000 in the 2024 budget for a Simcoe County assessment. It was approved by council to provide an additional $150,000 to include all the SCAN partners.
During an Aug. 13, county committee of the whole meeting, a report on information technology was provided by the IT department.
“There has been a dramatic increase in cyber-security incidents impacting the Ontario public sector,” the report stated. “Most recently, the City of Hamilton and Town of Huntsville have experienced service disruptions resulting from cyber-incidents.
The SCAN partners security assessment would include a review of 33 organizations, 214 IP addresses and 60 internet facing domains.
The report says this will provide a complete view of the external footprint of the county and its network partners. Each partner will also receive individualized assessment reports summarizing findings and security recommendations.
A security baseline is expected to establish the minimum level of security that all systems and applications must meet, ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, provide a foundation for implementing security controls, and simplify security management processes to reduce the risk of security breaches.
The assessment would also identifiy vulnerabilities and provides recommendations to reduce or eliminate risks for intrusion attempts, domain name service and domain registration involving subdomain discovery, firewall, password strength and authentication, email security, host server security and transport layer security.
Brian Lockhart is a federally funded Local Journalism Initiative reporter with the New Tecumseth Times.
