IT director reports on projects and cybersecurity training; staff urges phishing reports and .gov domain guidance offered

The county IT presenter gave a monthly information-technology update, reporting continued progress on multiple software projects and noting seasonal staff absences that can slow work during the summer.

On phishing and cybersecurity, the presenter urged county employees to use the email “phish” or phishing-alert button to report simulated and real phishing emails. “If you click the phishing alert button…you get the gold star right there,” the presenter said, adding that simulated reports help measure training effectiveness and that reports of real compromised accounts allow the IT team to investigate and block malicious senders.

The presenter noted recent penetration testing and described follow-up incident identification captured by the county’s platform. The presenter also summarized conference attendance by IT staff — including a national association conference focused on AI and an IT directors’ conference — and said the county hosts BOCES students for IT tours each semester.

During Q&A, Supervisor Charlie asked about a recent governor’s proclamation regarding .gov domains and email addresses. The presenter offered to consult with towns and village officials and said she could provide guidance and local vendor referrals for domain setup and mailbox migration, noting that the .gov registration process itself is “fairly simple” but that hosting and email setup require additional work. The presenter recommended that local offices consider using managed products (for example, Microsoft 365) when establishing new domains to simplify migration.

Ending: IT staff encouraged employees to report suspicious emails, complete the new interactive cybersecurity training and contact IT for assistance with .gov domain transitions or email migrations.