DuPage County creates Cybersecurity Task Force

Leaders of DuPage County’s Information Technology Leadership Roundtable met Aug. 1 to announce the formation of a Cybersecurity Task Force designed to provide mutual backup in the event of a cybersecurity incident.

The county launched the roundtable initiative in May to foster collaboration between countywide and municipal IT professionals. The program aims to facilitate the regular exchange of ideas, resources, best practices and county services to support and enhance the technology environments countywide. During the group’s initial meeting, members expressed interest in forming a smaller task force focused on cybersecurity issues and challenges.

Members of the Cybersecurity Task Force are:

• Marc Talavera – Village of Carol Stream
• Annie Davis – DuPage County Workforce Development Division
• Tom Gilbert – Village of Oak Brook
• Michael Sampey – Village of Addison
• Jacob Weisz – Village of Glendale Heights
• Peter Schaak – Village of Schaumburg
• Glen Liljeberg – Village of Westmont
• Gregory Dover – Village of Woodridge

During the August meeting, municipal and county IT professionals spoke with a CrowdStrike representative about the recent outage. They also heard a presentation on ransomware and security best practices.

The DuPage Municipal Cybersecurity Task Force is scheduled to meet Aug. 29. The DuPage County Information Technology Department is facilitating a workshop on Artificial Intelligence for roundtable members, government leaders and staff on Aug. 21. And, the next quarterly Municipal Roundtable meeting is scheduled for Nov. 7.