Grundy Center, IA More than 150 county officials and employees, vendors and other interested individuals traveled to Des Moines recently for a one-day educational conference that was held by the Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC) and the County Strategic Technology Advisory Resource (CoSTAR) in cooperation with the Iowa Communities Assurance Pool (ICAP). Joining the group from Grundy County were Don Kampman, IT/GIS Director; Jesse Huisman, Assistant IT/GIS Director; John Freese, Assessor.

All local government officials were encouraged to attend and learn about becoming secure and safe at home and in the workplace while using email, mobile devices and more.

The conference began with Keynote Speaker Bryan Seely. Seely is a world-famous cyber security expert, ethical hacker, author and former U.S. Marine. He is known for intercepting calls to the United States Secret Service and FBI by hacking Google Maps in early 2014. He discussed timely cybersecurity attacks and stressed the need for employee training. He later led a discussion with the technology professionals of the escalating rise of social engineering attacks and other methods that hackers are using to get into networks.

Brian Hill, Computer Forensic Services, highlighted recent, high-profile cyber-crime events including web site breaches impacting retailers, banks and government agencies. Hill focused on dangerous personal threats such as the Dark Web, the Internet of Things, phishing and Wifi attacks. Jeff Franklin and staff members from the state of Iowa covered initiatives and the resources available to local governments. To conclude the conference, attendees were split into groups and were asked to respond to real-life examples of cybersecurity breaches. A panel of experts discussed the plans that were developed and attendees learned what to and what not to do in these situations.

“Cyber-security is becoming an ever-present threat to local governments. This conference provided attendees with proactive information that will help them to protect taxpayer data, information and money” said Bill Peterson, ISAC Executive Director.

“I commend all of the local government officials who attended this conference to better their understanding of the technology threats that exist today.”

The Iowa State Association of Counties is a private, nonprofit corporation whose members are county officials from the 99 counties in Iowa. ISAC’s mission is to promote effective and responsible county government for the people of Iowa.