Finance committee hears cyber-insurance renewal and IT security updates

Iroquois County’s Finance Committee on June 30 was briefed that the county’s cyber insurance policy renewed with an approximately 11% premium increase and heard updates from county IT contractors about endpoint security and the building sound system.

Myron Bunyan of Compass told the committee “Basically, same as last year, same coverages. We are protected for any type of a breach.” He said the policy’s renewal premium rose roughly 11 percent, from a prior figure committee members cited as “85 16” to a new premium the vendor said was “9562.” Bunyan said the coverage would pay for breach response functions including monitoring and reporting and that the market for cyber insurance options for a government of the county’s size is limited; he recommended exploring a specialist cyber insurer such as Beasley for larger or more complex placements.

The committee asked timing and effective-date questions; Bunyan said the policy had renewed and the carrier bill had been sent, clarifying the coverage would remain in effect into July. He also said higher deductibles were an option for premium management but that “we're kinda locked on some of those cyber” because options are constrained.

Area Wide Technologies reported deployment of an EDR/NDR endpoint solution across about 175 endpoints and said so far “everything seems nominal,” with no unusual activity detected in the security portal. A county representative asked about a sound-system configuration; staff said they would follow up with the technician and pass contact information along.

No formal vote was taken at the committee on the insurance item; committee leadership indicated they would present the renewal to the full county board and did not request a committee vote unless there were objections. The committee did not direct staff to pursue alternate carriers at the meeting.

Committee members asked whether staff questionnaires and financial data submitted to underwriters could influence premiums; Bunyan said underwriter questionnaires are driven by county financials and counts of devices and that those responses feed the carrier’s pricing models. He also said there had been no recent cyber claims that would affect the county’s placement.

The IT contractor said software updates and endpoint monitoring are handled remotely and recommended periodic review of declaration pages and continuity plans. The committee requested copies of declarations and asked staff to circulate contact details for the sound-system vendor so the committee member who raised the issue could coordinate a fix.