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County IT director reports Exchange vulnerability, rebuilding and major 911 upgrades
Summary
Washington County IT Director Darlene B. Fikes summarized department projects including a rebuilt Microsoft Exchange server after a March vulnerability, a move to a hosted ESInet 911 system with a June go-live date, and other infrastructure improvements.
Darlene B. Fikes, Washington Countys one-person IT department, told commissioners on May 3 that the office completed several infrastructure projects and managed a March cybersecurity incident involving Microsoft Exchange.
Fikes recounted that notifications from national and state cyber groups identified an Exchange vulnerability in early March; forensic scanning coordinated with NCLGISA and the NC National Guard found no indications of compromise beyond the Exchange server. "We began this process on March 16 and completed it on April 1," she said, describing a server rebuild and email migration. She credited the NC National Guards forensic work and said their assistance replaced a service that would otherwise have been costly.
Fikes also outlined ongoing projects: installation of a courtroom speaker system per NC Supreme Court guidance; replacement of a DSL line with a 100 Mbps Fiber+ connection to support virtual meetings; cabling for the WOW building to support speech streaming; a MondoPad in the commissionersroom; coordination of EMS office relocation connectivity; review of Detention Center camera replacement quotes; and SCADA hardware work at the Water Plant. She said the county is migrating to a hosted ESInet 911 phone system (contract awarded to AT&T) with a projected go-live date of June 24, 2021, and described the complexity of equipment, mapping and funding coordination with the State 911 Board.
Commissioners thanked Fikes for the detailed briefing and asked questions about staffing and resilience; Fikes confirmed she is a one-person department supported by a contract with Soundside and internal back-ups when shes away.
