Supervisors want a plan B in event of another hack

EL CENTRO — The Imperial County Board of Supervisors Tuesday morning asked county o cials to come up with a backup plan in case a ransomware attack were to ever occur again.

The hacking of the county’s server shut down operations for several days and dramatically a ected the real estate industry.

Supervisor Mike Kelley asked Henry Felix with the county’s information technology department for an update following the April 13 cyberattack.

Kelley said the county needs to have a Plan B in place, so it will be able to continue to function if an attack were to happen again, and if there is no such plan, one should be created immediately.

“I read (in the newspaper) where the real estate industry criticized us.” Kelley said.

Henry told Kelley that the supervisor was correct in the county needing o ine processes being in place.

Chief Executive O cer Tony Rouhatas Jr. complimented the county departments for not missing a step during the aftermath of the attack.

“We had to refrain from using the system to be sure,” he said. “There were several issues that had to be looked at.”

Rouhatas pointed out that Imperial County is not the only one being hacked in the nation. “Baltimore was hit a second time,” he said.

The county is working on finalizing the report on the cyberattack that will be shared with the board of supervisors.

Board Supervisor Ray Castillo said that while he does not wish for any agency to be hacked, he was happy it could rely on Felix.

“I am glad to see things are back to normal,” he said. “We need to create mechanisms. We need a plan for emergencies and not just for cyberattacks.”

Castillo said there will be more cyberattacks, and while it may not be in Imperial County, it will happen somewhere.

“How do we respond to different emergencies?” he said is a question that needs to be answered. We need to focus on our emergency plan.”

He said he hopes part of the plan is releasing information to the public because it affects everyone.

“That is something we will be taking a look at,” he said.

District 1 Supervisor Jesus Eduardo Escobar said the county needs to learn from its mistakes and have a good plan to review emergencies.

“Take a step back and be ready to rock and roll when things happen,” he said.

Board Chairman Ryan Kelley commended the county employees, some of whom canceled vacations, to make sure responsible people were around once the attack was discovered.