Carolina Beach manager gives update on cybersecurity issue that cost town money

CAROLINA BEACH, NC (WWAY) — During Tuesday night’s Carolina Beach Town Council meeting, several cybersecurity issues that cost the town money were discussed.

“Some good news and some other news.”

Town Manager Bruce Oakley said the town has received recommendations from outside agencies.

“The National Guard provided one for us, they gave us a lot of good things we’ve been implementing since they did the review we keep implementing, you’ve guys passed some policies that we’ve implemented and are using,” Oakley said.

And the good news? The removal of a public terminal that was deemed a security risk.

“One suggestion from our own IT provider is our public email terminal, which we’ve had for a dozen years. They recommended that it was a threat, a cyber threat, you can get on there and not only potentially information from the town, but citizens and employees who put HIPAA information or banking information could be picked off there. And the council was in agreement that we would remove it and we have removed it.”

But the other news? Not as good, according to Oakley.

“Speaking of cyber security issues, and it’s unrelated to the email terminal, but the town, as you know, we’ve been trying to update you on these as we go along. We’ve investigated two cybersecurity incidents, with the assistance of our police department and some federal authorities. Because of these incidents, the town has enhanced its polices beyond what we did with the National Guard and its procedures and taken other actions intended to reduce the risk of more incidents. The town is seeking reimbursements for financial losses as a result of these cyber attacks and I will put out a press release with more details tomorrow.”

An exact time when the press release will be sent out is not yet known.

Mayor Lynn Barbee said the efforts of town staff in dealing with this issue have been great.

“I think our concerns are #1 is when this press release comes out, there will be some victim shaming, but I want to say that watching you guys work through this, I’m very proud of the way staff stepped up, Debbie and everyone stepped up and took this very seriously.”

This incident comes less than two months after Pender County was scammed out of more than $650,000 by giving payments to a fake utilities vendor.

And later in the same meeting, a presentation was given by several business owners about a potential social district.

The presentation included a proposed area for the district around Carolina Beach’s central business district and the boardwalk.

The proposal included being able to take alcoholic beverages from participating businesses and walking around the designated area.

While some council members said they liked the idea, they also spoke about the need for the town to not act quickly in making a decision.

Barbee asked town staff to look into the idea, but said there is no timeline for when staff might come back to them with more information.