Columbus fights online attack; state to spend $7M on issue

(The Center Square) – As Columbus continues to deal with a digital security incident, the state of Ohio announced it will spend $7 million in taxpayer money to help cities fight interent attacks.

The global outage earlier this month, which impacted airlines, banks, emergency response, hospitals, and other businesses, also affected the city.

As late as the end of last week, city officials could still not access external email, and they said the attack started when an employee clicked on a malicious email.

In a statement, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said the Information Technology Department took "swift action to significantly limit potential exposure, which included severing internet connectivity. The city has engaged law enforcement and cybersecurity experts to eradicate the threat, comply with applicable laws and limit further risk.”

Gov. Mike DeWine announced a new statewide grant program expected to help municipalities with security software and services.

"We are taking another crucial step to ensuring our local government partners are protected against cyber threats from around the world,” DeWine said. "These threats are constantly changing, and we must help Ohio stay ahead.”

Local governments can use the money for endpoint protection, multi-factor authentication, secure mail, vulnerability management, migration to a dot gov internet domain and internet security services from the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center and the Center for Internet Security.

The money comes from the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and FEMA.

"This grant funding is another tool in our collective defense toolbox," Cybersecurity Strategic Advisor Kirk Herath said. "Our local government partners' cybersecurity is key to protecting Ohio. This grant funding will aid our partners in anticipating attacks and evolving quickly to protect critical government systems and citizen data."