Jefferson County has freed up $500,000 from its emergency fund in response to a cybersecurity threat to its network, which disrupted most county business earlier this month.
The County Council voted unanimously on Oct. 13 to approve the funding, which authorizes County Executive Dennis Gannon to spend up to a half-million dollars on a forensic analysis of the network and any legal services “triggered by the security threat,” the bill stated.
Because of the cybersecurity threat, the county’s information technology provider, Regional Justice Information Service Commission (REJIS), will obtain Accenture’s “Emergency Crisis Management & Incident Response” services, the cost of which will be passed on to the county, according to the bill.
Accenture is a technology consulting company headquartered in Dublin.
At the same meeting, the council approved entering into a contract with the Husch Blackwell law firm to represent the county in any legal proceedings that may crop up because of the security threat.
The county budget provides for an emergency fund that is not less than 3 percent of the total estimated general fund revenue for the year.
“The Jefferson County, Missouri, County Council finds that the cybersecurity threat…is a public emergency that will immediately and adversely affect life, the public peace, health, property, safety or welfare, and that, accordingly, an emergency bill to enact the emergency ordinance (fund) is necessary,” the bill stated.
County Councilman Charles Groeteke (District 4, Barnhart) said it is unusual for the council to approve a bill on the same night that it’s introduced, but this kind of bill is allowed under the county’s charter.
Usually, a bill is introduced and voted on preliminarily in one meeting and then perfected and finally passed in the next regular meeting.
“For the citizens out there who are following this along, this is an unusual process that we’re doing this evening by this emergency ordinance, approving it in one evening, and it’s allowed by the charter that we can do that as an emergency bill,” Groeteke said.
Network shutdown
County Administrator David Courtway said IT staff proactively shut down the county’s network on the morning of Oct. 1 once they caught wind of an attempt to breach the network.
Courtway said he couldn’t describe the nature of the cybersecurity threat in case there were other bad actors who would try to reenact the recent attack.
With a network system as big as the county’s and with the large number of employees with electronic devices such as county-issued phones and laptops, it took IT staff a few days to bring all employees back onto the network.
Courtway said key employees had access to the network by the next day, Oct. 2.
However, he called that day “disruptive,” with many staff unable to process transactions due to the network disruption.
An alert was put on the county’s website, notifying the public of the disruption.
Disruptions continued through the next week, with the county stating in an announcement on Oct. 9 that all government departments and services were operational and conducting business.
Most services are functioning, “though some operations are still being worked on to return to full capacity,” the statement said.
“Even though there was no indication of a data breach, we intentionally took our network offline and have taken thorough actions to mitigate any impact,” officials stated. “The threat did not impact the law enforcement function of Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, but it caused disruptions countywide.”
Courtway added that the Sheriff’s Office is on a separate network from the county’s network, and there was no indication of a cybersecurity threat on the office’s network.
The network disruptions caused staff to cancel two public meetings.
The Board of Zoning Adjustment meeting planned for 4 p.m. Oct. 8 and a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. later that day were both canceled due to technical issues.