Cybersecurity is a big issue in Osawatomie. The City of Osawatomie’s network servers were subjected to 47,000 cyberattacks during a one month period earlier this year. That’s over 1,500 attacks every day for a month solid. Most of the attacks emanated from inside Russia.
Director of Information Technology, Bill Justesen, says Osawatomie is not alone, attacks are common across the Country. Osawatomie has firewalls assisting with blocking some of the attacks; but, need additional layers of protection to identify and mitigate more sophisticated attacks.
The City will enter into an agreement with Sentinel Intrusion Prevention Systems for two of its Sentinel Outpost Security Devices, one for each network. Cost would be a one time fee of $5,000, then $1,100 monthly. City Manager, Mike Scanlon, says the City is likely to see cyberattacks increase in the months ahead, as it is the only way to retaliate against the Western Countries that are supporting Ukraine, without going to war with the rest of the world.
