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Kossuth County approves increase in cyber-liability coverage to address ransomware risk
Summary
The board approved raising cyber-liability coverage after staff described higher limits and security steps the county has undertaken to qualify for coverage.
Kossuth County supervisors voted to increase the county's cyber-liability insurance limit following a staff presentation on recent security steps and the growing ransomware threat.
Derek (first name used in the meeting) told the board the county had upgraded password policies and was rolling out multi-factor authentication to meet insurer requirements. He said the county's existing cyber-liability policy had a $250,000 limit and that staff had obtained pricing to raise the limit to $1,000,000; the quoted premium would increase from roughly $4,500 to about $10,006 per year for that higher limit, Derek said. He said staff had sought still-higher coverage but the cost jumped significantly for limits above $1 million.
Supervisor Kyle Stecker moved to approve increasing the coverage; Supervisor Garman seconded. The board unanimously approved the increase, which staff said would take effect July 1. Derek told the board the county still would not know precisely which events the insurer would cover until a claim was submitted, but he argued the higher limit was prudent given the rise in cyber incidents.
The board directed staff to proceed with the adjusted premium and continue rolling out multifactor authentication across county accounts.
