SARM midterm convention highlights cyber security and internet access

Rural leaders meet at Queensbury for SARM’s midterm, addressing regulations, roads, procurement, and cyber fraud. Damian Smith reports.

The midterm convention for the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM), one of the biggest gatherings for those living in rural municipalities, focused on cyber security Wednesday.

Retention of new farmers and authority on firearms were also topics of conversation at the event, which is being held at the Queensbury Convention Centre, but the importance of continued work on cyber security was in the spotlight.

“You want to be suspicious of links, checking the links before you click on them, checking the email address to make sure it’s a legitimate email address before you respond to it,” said Colin Warnecke, the manager of risk management at SARM. “With the use of artificial intelligence now, it’s getting harder and harder to see those scams come through.”

This year, rural municipalities have lost $775,000 through cyber security fraud schemes. Most notably, the town of White City and the rural municipality of Edenwold which lost a combined $697,000 after a fraudster posed as a wastewater authority. Most of those funds have since been recovered.

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“We do everything to protect our stuff, and we encourage our [rural municipalities] to use the best, devices they can obtain and to protect their interests. There’s issues there [with] their finances,” said Bill Huber, the president of the SARM Board of Directors.

Cybersecurity is recommended, and SARM is reminding municipalities about the importance of two-step authenticators.

“It takes an extra step, and it takes a little longer to gain access to your account but it truly is one of the easiest and fastest protections you can put on everything and deal with,” said Warnecke.

On the topic of technology, SARM would also like to see better internet service in rural areas, saying only 59 per cent of the province has consistent connection.

“The services, I think, have gotten worse in the last couple of years since we’ve gone to 5G,” said Huber. “It’s so valuable in our on our GPS and equipment and that we have in our farm equipment today to populate programs from one screen to another”

The SARM midterm convention will be back on Thursday, focusing on topics such as food and farm care, as well as bridge infrastructure and funding.