BY JEFF CHUDZINSKI
North Country This Week

CANTON – St. Lawrence County is taking steps to protect its data from cyber attacks with help from the New York State Department of Information Technology and Department of Homeland Security.

Rick Johnson, St. Lawrence County Director of Information Technology, said the help is needed as the existing security in place will no longer cover older computer systems, including on systems that are utilizing Windows 7 operating systems.

The county has been paying Microsoft year by year to keep the existing security software due to the age of some systems, including those that use Windows 7, Johnson said.

“The clock has now run out,” he said.

Legislators on the Operations Committee unanimously approved an intergovernmental agreement with both agencies during the committee’s Jan. 9 meeting.

The agreement, which will provide protection for critical infrastructure for county services, will come at no cost to the county for three years.

According to Johnson, the contract will cover many facets including “coordinating policies, standards and programs on cyber security.”

Johnson also told legislators the security solutions are scalable, meaning they can be used for as much or as little as deemed necessary.

The county was offered the opportunity to use CrowdStrike endpoint detection and response (EDR) services by New York State as part of a $30 million program established by Governor Hochul.

As described in the governor’s press release, “EDR is a technology used to protect endpoints, often computers or servers, by monitoring and reacting to cyber threats in real-time. These services can protect entire networks by detecting and isolating a compromised endpoint and will enable New York State cyber security teams to effectively track sophisticated attacks and promptly uncover incidents, as well as triage, validate and prioritize them, leading to faster and more precise remediation.”

According to Johnson, CrowdStrike is an industry leader in cyber security and should work well with the existing security in place. If the county so chooses, they could eventually switch the entire system’s security to CrowdStrike at a very comparable price to the existing contract.

The decision for the county to collaborate with state and federal agencies is one that will be a cost saving measure as well.

With the change over, the county will have “nice new software” moving forward, ensuring better security and smoother operations.

One of the primary efforts of the collaboration is to ensure fast and effective information and intelligence sharing amongst the entities to “assist in early identification of and response to natural and man-made disasters,” officials say.

In other related action, legislators also approved a contract with Stanley Convergent Security Solutions Inc. to install software for St. Lawrence County systems.

Officials say Stanley will manage the physical keys for the county and electronic badges for the courthouse and Human Services Center, allowing the county to upgrade from an antiquated system that requires updating.

Stanley will also provide support services as part of the $5,527 contract.

Officials say Stanley has taken over the sponsoring of systems and are uniquely positioned “to provide a cost-efficient way to upgrade both systems at the total cost of $5,527 under the Sourcewell Contract.”