Heber City Council unanimously approved a new contract for more secure email systems and better tech support Nov. 3.
The deal with Executech is a response to an October cyberattack on Heber’s municipal systems.
Heber City prosecutor Mark Smedley said the new contract would mitigate future security risk.
“Ninety-percent of any infiltration that happens generally in these type of situations comes from human error or employee, where they click on something that allows the tunneling into the system.” Smedley said. “This new agreement is very aggressive with regard to mandatory employee and mandatory human use training.
Under the current 10-year-old agreement, Heber has a 30-hour per month limit on service from the company. It costs $150 for each hour of extra support.
The new contract has no limit on services, but will cost the city $174,000 annually. That nearly doubles the $88,000 the city currently pays.
Councilmember Aaron Cheatwood was concerned about the contract’s fiscal impact on Heber residents.
“I’ve got my taxpayer dollars hat on, right?” Cheatwood said. “Like it seems high to me, but we do want to be compliant.”
The new contract will be implemented for a twelve-month test period, with the possibility for renewal.
