ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, VA (Rocktown Now) — Following recent cyberattacks targeting U.S. water and wastewater utilities in multiple states, local officials say there are various safeguards to protect Rockingham County from falling victim to similar attempts.

Administrator Casey Armstrong said on Early Mornings that the County does a fair amount of “penetration testing” with assistance from the National Guard.

“They help us conduct tabletop exercises on how to defend attacks against our infrastructure, particularly attacks that relates to water supply. And those things are really helpful for us to gauge the effectiveness for what we have in place, firewalls, things like that,” Armstrong said.

Additionally, Armstrong says that county employees frequently undergo testing administered by Information Technology Director Mike Bowen to evaluate internal susceptibility to cyberattacks and strengthen infrastructure security.

To hear the full conversation, listen here.