By Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Essex Free Press
Town of Essex Council adopted a By-Law to authorize the execution of a Regional IT Mutual Aid Agreement between the Corporation of the Town of Essex, the City of Windsor, Municipality of Chatham-Kent, the County of Essex, and all of the seven lower tier municipalities within the County of Essex.
This will allow Essex and participating partners a chance to tap into resources and expertise from each other that could result in a prompt recovery of the network.
Jack Barron, Manager of Information Technology, explained the agreement is a formal structure that outlines the policy allowing collaboration between municipalities.
Over the past several years, municipalities have become a major target for cyber attacks.
“We have seen an increase in ransom attacks to municipalities all across Canada,” Barron told Council. “We have become a target, due to the amount of sensitive information retained on the network.”
The results of these attacks extend disruption of municipal services to residents. Cyber attacks also affect how municipalities conduct day-to-day business.
The focus of the IT Department, in the event of a cyber attack, is to minimize data loss and to restore services, which Barron said can be an overwhelming task.
Municipalities of a small size, like Essex, may not have the resources or expertise to address large-scale security breaches.
Key benefits, Barron detailed, include rapid response to crisis, resource sharing, training, improved cyber security, and collaboration.
“It’s the right thing to do. It’s the neighbourly thing to do. It’s the Canadian thing to do,” Deputy Mayor Rob Shepley said of entering the agreement.
CAO Doug Sweet believes this mutual aid agreement will be the first of many to come in the next few years.