By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Whatever it costs, money will be found in Cobourg’s police budget for a new cyber-security initiative.
As stated at Tuesday’s Police Services Board meeting, board members will be moving away from using their own personal devices for board business.
Chair Adam Bureau cited recent hacking and criminal activity.
“We need to be more secure, and we can’t be using our personal devices. I think it would be only responsible if we had police-issued ones,” Bureau stated.
“I know it’s a pain carrying an extra phone, but with this day and age and the technology that’s out there, I think it’s imperative we do this. It’s for the security of the service. It’s got to be done. Crimestoppers was even hacked.”
“Woodstock police were hacked to the tune of $1-million. Other services locally have had some hacking issues,” Vice-Chair Sean Graham added.
There was extensive debate over details – laptop vs. Ipad, for example – but it was deemed important enough that money would be found in the budget.
“Whatever it is to secure ourselves from that is prudent,” Graham stated.
Discussion also turned to the possibility of consulting with the IT department to see if some savings could be had by retrofitting and refurbishing devices already in use, as opposed to all-new purchases.
The motion Bureau entertained suggested a limit of $15,000 for the project.
