Curry County schedules multi‑day cybersecurity summit for special districts at fairgrounds

Curry County will host a multi‑day cybersecurity summit in May at the fairgrounds aimed at helping special districts improve protections against ransomware and other cyberattacks, Chief Information Officer Phil Jackson told the Board of Commissioners on April 2.

Jackson said the summit grew from efforts last year to reach water districts after a Region 10 director from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned that water systems are frequent targets. "Our goal with the summit is to introduce them to state leaders and federal officials that can offer assistance and aid and open up grant opportunities for them," Jackson said.

The event is pitched to elected and volunteer leaders of special districts — including water, fire, library, school, port and health districts — across Curry, neighboring Coos County and Del Norte County. Jackson said organizers already had about 40 registrations but expect a larger turnout closer to the summit date, and that registration will open at 11 a.m. on the first day with programming starting about noon.

Why it matters: Special districts often operate with limited IT expertise and can be vulnerable to attacks that disrupt critical services — including boil orders, data exposure and operational outages. Jackson cited recent incidents such as the PowerSchool breach affecting K‑12 information systems and high‑cost ransomware responses at library systems to underscore risks.

What the summit will cover: According to Jackson, sessions will focus on practical "low‑hanging fruit" steps such as multifactor authentication and robust backups, contract language for third‑party IT vendors, and grant resources available at state and federal levels. Jackson said the final day will include an on‑site assessment with each district to produce a baseline score and prioritize the next steps: "At the end of that particular education... we're going to sit down and do an assessment with every special district. It's not something that gets you in trouble... this is going to be a moment where we can have a baseline."

Speakers and presenters scheduled to attend include CISA staff, regional and state CISA directors, the Lane County COO who helped Curry County recover from its recent ransomware attack, a Curry County‑area CISO and a panel of cybersecurity vendors and consultants. Jackson said the county did not use county IT budget dollars for the event and instead solicited sponsorships from vendors the county already contracts with.

Logistics and community engagement: Jackson said the summit will include breakout sessions by district type so participants can ask focused questions and gather contact information for follow‑up. He listed expected participants and registrants from local governments and agencies, and noted partners helping to run the event, including local service clubs for staffing. He also described outreach to watershed councils and emergency managers as part of inviting relevant local stakeholders.

Commissioners and other elected officials who spoke praised the effort and suggested additional invitees, including the county’s insurance provider and CIS, which conducts cyber risk assessments. Commissioner comments also raised emergency‑response benefits of having face‑to‑face coordination among fire chiefs and other critical responders.

Jackson said the summit is intended to start sustained conversations and connect districts to state and federal resources, not to complete remediation in a single meeting. He encouraged district leaders to attend and to use the assessment as a foundation for future work.