Huron County declines cybersecurity upgrade

Nov. 16--The Huron County commissioners discussed their county liability insurance renewal last week. Kim Bache, Ginny Shrimplin and Warren Brown spoke to the commissioners about their contract with the County Risk-Sharing Authority (CORSA) which was established by the County Commissioner's Association of Ohio.

CORSA is a "member-owned property and liability risk sharing pool," according to its website. Counties in the state collaborate to provide liability insurance to 65 counties. Huron County is one of them.

"(It) was one of the first counties who formed that organization," said Gary Bauer, county commissioner.

The county and consortium have a history -- beginning with former commissioner Tom Carabin.

"Tom was one of the first board members, and he resigned as a county commissioner and went on the board of CORSA," Bauer said.

The deal also involves protection against hackers. It provides a million dollars in coverage for loss of data and system hacks. It recently offered Huron County a $2 million to $3 million upgrade, but the county declined.

Warren Brown had made the commissioners aware of the upgrade at a meeting last month. He offered to bring them more information.

Bauer said the commissioners understand the need for cybersecurity in the modern era. He recalled a related conference he attended where a state trooper demonstrated the vulnerable state of today's technology.

The trooper told everyone in the room to turn on their phones, and hacked them as an example.

"It was almost instant," he said. "He removed all the data from the cellphones and put it on the screen."

Because the county is relatively small, the commissioners did not upgrade.

"We decided not to," Bauer said.

Officials said they simply couldn't justify the upgrade cost with no apparent need.

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