Comanche County wants cybersecurity security grant for emergency management center

In an increasing unsafe world, Comanche County’s emergency management director wants some protection against cyberactivity.

Emergency Management Director Clint Lankford received permission Monday from Comanche County Commissioners to apply for a $145,000 grant from the Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security to fund cybersecurity upgrades in the emergency management center on the Great Plains Technology Center campus. That center in southwest Lawton is headquarters for the county’s E-911 center and its dispatchers while also providing space for those involved with emergency management operations for Lawton and Comanche County. And, during emergencies — a cyberattack as well as the threat posed by severe weather — it is crucial for residents that center continue to operate, Lankford said.

Oklahoma’s Office of Homeland Security is trying to help, offering a state and local cybersecurity grant program to address what is becoming an increasing concern for those whose job is to keep things going in emergencies. Cybersecurity problems are evolving from hackers playing games to foreign-based hackers going after the nation’s crucial infrastructure. In a recent example, Muleshoe, Texas, a small town southwest of Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle, was the victim of a cyberattack that caused its water system to overflow until local operators were able to take over manually.

Lankford said he would use the state grant to upgrade the entire system at the city/county emergency operations center, from “backbone” services to software.

“It’s 100 percent; no match,” Lankford said, explaining the grant will come without a requirement that officials must put in a certain percentage of local funding. “We qualify.”

Lankford said the local center upgrades would be modeled after those seen at the state level, with the cost of upgrades entirely funded by the grant if Comanche County wins the full $145,000. He envisions a variety of upgrades, such as creation of a “redundancy network” that will ensure operations continue so smoothly that officials may not even be aware there was a problem with the original internet system. He said protections are crucial because the center controls emergency responses for the county, as well as the City of Lawton.

Lankford said he isn’t sure about the timeline, but expects to hear later this year whether Comanche County was successful. He wants to tackle those security enhancements as soon as possible, explaining the upgrades will make the entire emergency operations complex “more secure and resilient.”

“We have to do this,” he said of the necessity of protecting emergency operations from cyberattacks that could seriously disrupt responses in an emergency situation.