Haverhill City Council President John A. Michitson.
City government’s internet and local computer networks need protection against intrusion, says Haverhill City Council President John A. Michitson.
He is asking Mayor James J. Fiorentini to add a cybersecurity audit to upcoming city budget deliberations. The first, step, he says in a letter sent to the mayor today, is to identify systems, such as financial software and networks and email. The audit would help ensure the protection of residents’ billing and health records, police reports and credit card information and bank accounts, as examples.
“The city and schools need sound information technology systems and networks that are resilient, reliable and protected to conduct city business effectively, efficiently and safely. The city IT systems appear to need the most help. Water and Wastewater and the Schools appear to be in better shape. This is a risk area to scrutinize…,” Michitson says.
“For a city, cybersecurity is the protection of information, systems, and infrastructure vital to the city’s operation and to the stability and the livelihood of its people,” he adds.
Michitson says a similar audit in Boston led to “two-factor authentication” of that city’s credit card processing and remote access. In this instance, he explains, “Both a randomly generated code and a password would be needed. This ensures that discovery of a password to a privileged account will be insufficient to access the network.”
City Councilors unanimously supported adding a cyber security audit and funding for potential IT and cyber security improvements to the budget that begins July 1.
this guys a stiff