Chris Warner reports:
In July of last year, the City of Joplin had what they called a “network security incident”. It ultimately shut down city phones, online services, and someone outside managed to take files out of the city’s network.
That impacted employees, as some employer-sponsored health plan files were taken, and some residents were affected as well, as sewer bill files were also impacted. Ultimately, a security firm was hired to solve the problem, and a ransom was paid. The City did not disclose those costs.
Using public records request, KOAM has pieced together how much the city paid in ransom and then other incident-related bills. The city declined to answer their questions about some of the expenses, but read KOAM’s story to find out what the bottom line seems to be for the incident’s cost to taxpayers.