New Canaan Law Enforcement Learns About Cyber-Threats

NEW CANAAN, CT — The town's Office of Emergency Management conducted a cyber-threat training exercise last week, focusing on increasing cyber-security awareness, threat prevention, mitigation and response, officials announced.

Participating departments were Police, Fire, EMS and Information Technology. The FBI and the Connecticut State Police Counter-Terrorism Unit/Cyber-Crimes Unit provided subject matter expertise throughout the exercise.

"As part of its ongoing mission to provide multi-agency all-hazards training and planning, the Office of Emergency Management is pleased to have been able to bring this discussion to the forefront, as it is often overlooked until it is too late," said New Canaan Emergency Management Director Michael Handler in a statement. "It is always important to test our current level of preparedness and look for ways to enhance our policies, procedures and responses. I want to thank First Selectmen Mallozzi for providing the environment, encouragement and support all of our emergency preparedness training."

Added Chris Kaiser, Director of Information Technology, "The more we educate ourselves and our users on emerging cyber-threats, the less vulnerable we will be."

The town will next its cyber policies, educate additional employees, and further test its procedures and response protocols.

The training comes after the Town of Groton this spring was hit with a massive cyber breach in which personal information from 1,300 of its school district employees was exposed to hackers.

According to New Canaan Police Chief Leon Krolikowski, to stop a cyber breach in town would require a coordinated multi-agency effort.

"Ultimately, our Cyber-Threat response protocols will be added as a formal annex to our Town’s Emergency Operations Plan," according to New Canaan officials.

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