Geauga County Auditor Chuck Walder commended Parkman Township Trustee Joyce Peters March 3 for alerting the county Automatic Data Processing board to a possible smishing attack in February.
Geauga County Auditor Chuck Walder commended Parkman Township Trustee Joyce Peters March 3 for alerting the county Automatic Data Processing board to a possible smishing attack in February.
Walder attended the township trustees meeting to thank Peters for promptly reporting a suspicious text message sent to her, township staff and residents.
“Joyce reported it immediately to ADP and we sent out alerts,” Walder said. “We’ve learned from experience the best defense is people. If people don’t take corrective actions, we are vulnerable.”
The text message, which appeared harmless, read: “Hello – I’m Dan Gladd, your Geauga County Parkman Township trustee. I’m listening to residents about what matters most in our community. What issues do you think should be our top priority? Reply to share your input or text STOP to opt out.”
Peters suspected the message was a smishing attempt by unknown individuals.
The National Cybersecurity Alliance defines smishing as a text message sent to individuals to trick them into clicking a malicious link, sharing personal information or downloading malware.
Peters said in a followup interview the message was addressed personally to recipients.
“After I received it and heard from (a resident), I knew it was a fake,” she said. “I put a message on Facebook and on our web page to warn the residents. I contacted ADP to see if we had to report it to (U.S. Department of) Homeland Security, which is what the law now requires municipalities to do.”
Walder’s office later told her the incident did not need to be reported to the USDHS.
“ADP advised me to tell everyone on staff and residents not to click any links or reply to this text,” she said. “I believe Mr. Antenucci said at the time we were the first to report such a thing.”
ADP Chief Deputy Administrator Frank Antenucci, who attended the meeting, oversees several county departments, including the Department of Advanced Technology and Applications, the Department of County Archives and Records Enterprise, and the Department of Advanced Research and Cybersecurity, or DARC.
During late Tuesday’s meeting, Walder presented Peters with a boxed pen marked “DARC GCADP” in silver letters in recognition of her quick action, noting she was the first person to receive the award.
Walder also offered the township free assistance in digitizing and archiving township records to help save time and resources.
“Economies of scale kick in at the county level. We have five people who digitize their hearts out every day,” he said. “We can send a team to look at what you have. We’re doing our best to keep costs as low as possible.”
Peters said she sought assistance from ADP even though the township is not yet officially under the ADP cybersecurity umbrella.
The township applied two years ago for a federal grant that would allow it to join ADP’s cybersecurity program, she said, adding, however, the process has been delayed for several reasons, including federal government shutdowns.
According to the ADP website, the primary mission of DARC is to protect the confidentiality and integrity of Geauga County’s data, provide cybersecurity oversight, risk management, incident response and research emerging technologies. Its focus is to create and enforce cybersecurity policies, oversee incident response and threat intelligence, and collaborate with DATA on secure technology deployments.
