Rowan County recently received $163,700 from state and local cybersecurity grant programs. Officials announced they had won the grant earlier this year, and now they have the money to get started.
Officials said a portion of the grant money will be used to enhance firewall protection and network monitoring systems at the Rowan County Detention Center. Rowan County Judge Executive Harry Clark said there have been few updates to the jail network since its construction in 2018.
“We start with the prison. This prison was built and opened in 2018, but really none of the software had been updated. Basically everything there is controlled by computers. Doors, lights, cameras, everything. So we’re focusing on that first and trying to bring it up to today’s standards,” Clark said.
Clark added that plans to improve the software have been in the works for a long time.
“As I said, we have been preparing for it with a lot of meetings and planning. So let’s figure out how to do this. Importantly, without interrupting service. That’s what we try to do, but we don’t want that kind of interruption in a prison. So we plan and pace ourselves so that we don’t disrupt our operations,” Clark said. .
Officials said the grant builds on cybersecurity efforts taken by local governments across the state. Mr Clark added that authorities are likely to contract and outsource digital advances in the future. The grant will be distributed through the Kentucky Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
