HONOLULU (Island News) — It is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a reminder that more than just casual computer users have their eyes on the internet — there are cyber threats online.
“We get attacked a lot. There’s tens of thousands of attacks every day,” said Brian McKee, Director at the City and County of Honolulu Department of Information Technology. McKee also said it needs to step up its game to deal with not only more attacks, but also better attempts to get into city systems.
“The attacks are getting more sophisticated,” added McKee.
That is what is happening on the state side as well.
“With the advent of artificial intelligence and AI, we actually use AI to help protect our systems, but bad actors can use AI to help find loopholes or weak points in our infrastructure,” said Christine Sakuda, Chief Information Officer with DAGS Enterprise Technology Service.
The city has a relatively new data center, with the latest technology to manage all the information on drivers licenses, properties, and even the 911 system, but the latest cyberattacks don’t always go through a traditional computer.
Pumps that connect to the internet to be remotely controlled, or other formerly standalone systems, are vulnerable once they link up with outside systems.
That also includes other critical infrastructure.
“They can be highways, bridges, the harbors, the airline industry; that kind of critical infrastructure. It doesn’t always have to be technology infrastructure,” stated Sakuda.
In the past, cyberattacks have disrupted the bus service, and impacted the Board of Water Supply along with other Hawaii businesses.
Hawaiian Electric told Island News it also faces thousands of daily threats and spends millions on cybersecurity stating:
“Cyber threats are growing bolder and more sophisticated, and we remain committed to maintaining a robust and evolving cybersecurity program.”
“We’re always on the lookout, and we assume that bad actors are always trying to get into the system. So vigilance is critical for us,” added Sakuda.
Adding to the challenge, parts of our government operations remain vulnerable because of old equipment, from servers to software.
“We’ve got a lot of old, obsolete software that we have to upgrade. We’ve got operating systems and server systems that need upgrades as well, so we can get the latest security patches on them,” stated McKee.
Because while the city and state may have some new tools to detect and defend against cyberattacks, when it comes to cyber protection:
“Technology systems are generally as strong as the weakest link,” added Sakuda.
