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Live Oak council authorizes review after about $450,000 lost in suspected cyber theft
Summary
The City of Live Oak council voted to authorize the city manager or city attorney to seek outside personnel to review finance policies and procedures after the city reported an apparent cyber-related loss of approximately $450,000. The police said the investigation is ongoing and recovery of funds is unlikely.
The City of Live Oak council authorized the city manager and city attorney to seek outside experts to review the city’s finance policies and procedures after the council was told the city had lost approximately $450,000 in what officials described as a cyber incident.
A council member told colleagues the loss began in February and that the city has not yet received a full accounting of what happened. The council member said recent related events included a separate credit-card breach that the bank detected and stopped.
Keith Davis, chief of police for the City of Live Oak, told the council that “with ongoing investigations, it's hard to put out to everybody every step we have taken in hopes of catching the bad guys,” and that the department has issued subpoenas as part of the investigation. He said he could provide additional information in a sit-down briefing but not in open session because it could hinder the investigation.
Council discussion emphasized prevention and outside expertise. One council member said the city “needs professionals” to review policies and procedures and recommended issuing a request for proposals so qualified firms could audit financial controls and recommend changes.
A motion recorded on the transcript read: “council action giving our city manager, or attorney, the ability to seek out correct personnel for looking at our policies and procedures of how we do business in our finance department.” The motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.
Council members also urged quick follow-up because the lost funds were affecting the city’s ability to pay other obligations. A speaker noted that the city’s bank had previously caught a separate card-breach attempt and said that recovery of the missing funds is unlikely because the money may have moved overseas, complicating extradition and recovery.
Next steps recorded in the meeting: the city manager and city attorney may solicit outside firms to perform an audit of financial controls and report back to council. The police department will continue its criminal investigation and said it will share what it can in a closed briefing if needed.
