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Administrator outlines long‑range financial plan and describes recent VPN attack; IT deployed fixes within 48 hours
Summary
County Administrator Deborah Erickson told the board Feb. 25 that staff are drafting a long‑range financial plan including a five‑year budget and CIP. Erickson also described a recent cyber incident that generated nearly 3,000 VPN hits from a source identified in Russia; IT patched and pushed a new security solution within about 48 hours.
County Administrator Deborah Erickson told the Crow Wing County Board on Feb. 25 that staff are assembling a long‑range financial plan that will include a five‑year budget, the capital improvement plan and other elements commissioners requested.
Erickson said senior management discussed adding components beyond staffing and capital needs — for example technology projects from the highway department’s transportation plan and land services’ comprehensive plan — and asked commissioners to send any additional items they want included. She also said IT and facilities staff will begin quarterly meetings with departments to surface operational initiatives earlier than the annual budget cycle. Erickson said the county also is reviewing performance‑review templates for consistency across departments.
Erickson told the board that over the previous week the county’s VPN experienced “just under 3,000 hits” that were traced to a source identified in Russia. She said the attack was not successful but prompted the IT team to accelerate deployment of a more secure VPN solution; staff pushed the new service remotely to online machines and completed the emergency rollout in about 48 hours. “They not only identified the attack immediately, kept us from getting any concerns or issues, but also deployed a much more secure solution in a period of about 48 hours,” Erickson said.
She asked commissioners to let the administration know what they want included in the long‑range financial plan. No formal action was taken at the meeting; Erickson’s report was informational and tied to ongoing planning and IT work.
