(Radio Iowa) – The state provides cybersecurity services for Iowa governmental entities and nonprofits at cost — but few are taking advantage of the offer. While 92 percent of counties use the state for cybersecurity, only 14 school districts, three cities and four nonprofits use these services. Iowa State University cybersecurity expert, Doug Jacobson says it doesn’t matter how you plan for an attack — you just need to do it before it’s a problem.

“If you call these people out of the blue and say, I got ransomware help, they got a long road ahead of them to even figure out what you have and what you’ve done and where you are to even start to figure out what the ransomware did,” Jacobson says. Jacobson is the director of the I-S-U Center for Cybersecurity, Innovation and Outreach.

(By Zachary Oren Smith, Iowa Public Radio)