By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Perhaps the most important message for City Administrator Keith Brady at this year’s Alaska Municipal League conference was on the importance of computer security at a time when hackers have jammed the digital systems in other Alaskan communities.
“Cybersecurity Risk and Protection” was one of the sessions for city managers at the annual conference, held Nov. 12-16 in Anchorage. It was Brady’s second since becoming Sitka city administrator a little over a year ago.
Newly elected Assembly members Kevin Mosher, Valorie Nelson and Mayor Gary Paxton attended the Newly Elected Officials training at the conference, where city government officials from around the state gather for continuing education, legislative updates and network building.
Brady said City Clerk Sara Peterson was sworn in as the coming year’s president of the Alaska Association of Municipal Clerks. Also front and center at the conference was City Finance Director Jay Sweeney, who was on the team presenting the session “A Responsible Fiscal Policy Quarter Deck.” Others on the team were Max Mertz, auditor for Sitka Community Hospital, and Deven Mitchell, director of the Alaska Municipal Bond Bank Authority.
The talk was described in the AML agenda: “Municipalities are faced with tough financial decisions each year, which require them to balance short term needs with long term sustainability. Panelists will identify keys to success and ways in which municipalities can work to meet that balance.”
“It helps the municipal officials really fine-tune the budget,” Brady said. “How is our budget going to work, how are we moving forward with funding. What are we spending it on, what are our priorities.”
The process of creating a fiscal policy for Sitka may start in the investment committee, with the plan then presented to the Assembly for discussion and approval.
But Brady’s big takeaway from the meeting was the presentation on cybersecurity, relating the havoc and huge expenses incurred when a city’s computer system is hacked.
Advance information on the session said: “The threat of hacking, a virus or malware has never been more visceral than now. With attacks and disruptions in Mat-Su and Valdez, as well as during elections, this session will explore potential impacts and how to keep local governments safe.”
Both the City of Valdez and Mat-Su Borough were hacked in late July, and ransoms demanded by the hackers. Valdez paid the $26,623.97 ransom, but the payment does not come with a guarantee of no further costs and damages, Brady said. Mat-Su, which was locked out of computers and its email mail server, refused to pay and opted instead to rebuild all of its systems, at a cost of $2 million to $3 million.
Brady said the session was an eye opener.
“What precautions to take, and to make sure you are insured, and make sure the IT department has set up protections and segmented everything so if someone gets in, they are not destroying things,” Brady said. He said the session impressed upon him the need to pay attention to the issue. As it happens, he said, Sitka has already taken action, and has security systems in place.
“We are really well protected,” he said.
