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KLC Insurance Services Announces $1 Million Cybersecurity Preparedness Grant

Note: KLC and VC3 will hold an informational webinar about the Cybersecurity Preparedness Grant and the Cybersecurity Essentials Package on Tuesday, November 30 at 10:00 a.m. EST. Register today.

Municipalities are at extremely high risk for cyberattacks. In 2020, 44 percent of global ransomware attacks targeted municipalities. The requirement to store sensitive and confidential data combined with the likelihood that municipalities do not follow cybersecurity best practices leads to a very dangerous situation.

Cyber insurance is an important component of a secure municipality, but if they do not meet basic cybersecurity requirements then potentially no coverage will be provided in the near future—or premiums will become too cost prohibitive. This puts municipalities at very high financial and operational risk if a cyberattack were to occur. And sadly, it is only a matter of when, not if, a cybersecurity incident will occur.

KLC Insurance Services and VC3 Offer an Innovative Solution

KLC Insurance Services is providing a $1 million Cybersecurity Preparedness Grant and Cybersecurity Essentials Package to help Kentucky municipalities and organizations meet basic requirements to protect against a cybersecurity incident. Such basics include:

Discovery to identify what basic requirements are missing.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) for access to email, remote access to computers and servers, and access to administrative accounts.
Data backup and disaster recovery with the requirement of storing two backup copies onto different storage media in different offsite locations.
Advanced threat protection add-on, if using Office 365, or the equivalent if using another email software.
Endpoint detection and response (EDR) that focuses on a single “endpoint device” (such as a server or computer). EDR looks for threats that may have infiltrated a municipality’s device by watching for suspicious activity.

While more cybersecurity areas need addressing (as seen by our municipal checklist), cyber insurance providers at this time want to see that the above basic requirements are met—and so this pioneering grant and cybersecurity bundle attempts to tackle this need for municipalities and organizations, addressing the obstacles of cost and the need to figure out these requirements on their own.

VC3, a strategic partner of KLC, has provided KLC Insurance Services members reduced pricing for the Cybersecurity Essentials Package. The grant period is from November 15, 2021 to June 30, 2023, and the grant amounts will range between $1,000 and $15,000.

If you are a KLCIS Liability Policyholder, contact Suzanne Reed, Director of Underwriting, KLCIS, (800) 876-4552 or SReed@klc.org, or Bill Piper, Senior Account Executive, VC3, (606) 708-7243 or Bill.piper@vc3.com, for more information.