--- title: "Phishing Prevention Technology: Why Aren’t Municipalities Onboard? | DuoCircle" description: "If you haven’t heard lately, when it comes to getting phished, municipalities and local governments aren’t doing too well. And it’s costing them a lot of money." image: "https://www.duocircle.com/images/og-default.png" canonical: "https://www.duocircle.com/blog/phishing-protection/phishing-prevention-technology-why-arent-municipalities-onboard/" --- Quick Answer US municipalities and government agencies keep paying ransom because they have not deployed phishing prevention. Documented examples: Augusta, Maine; Imperial County, California; Stuart, Florida; and Greenville, North Carolina hit with ransomware in a single week of April 2019; Jackson County, Georgia paid $400,000 to recover; the City of Chicago Department of Aviation lost over $1 million to a vendor-impersonation scam; the Oregon Department of Human Services exposed 1.5 million records (including HIPAA-protected SSNs and birth dates) after nine employees clicked a spear-phishing link; Scott County School District in Kentucky lost $3.7 million to CEO fraud impersonating a vendor. Cloud-based phishing protection runs roughly $50/month for 100 users. Jackson County's $400,000 payout would have funded 470 years of prevention. Share [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fphishing-prevention-technology-why-arent-municipalities-onboard%2F "Share on LinkedIn") [ ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Phishing%20Prevention%20Technology%3A%20Why%20Aren%E2%80%99t%20Municipalities%20Onboard%3F&url=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fphishing-prevention-technology-why-arent-municipalities-onboard%2F "Share on X/Twitter") [ ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fphishing-prevention-technology-why-arent-municipalities-onboard%2F "Share on Facebook") [ ](https://reddit.com/submit?url=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fphishing-prevention-technology-why-arent-municipalities-onboard%2F&title=Phishing%20Prevention%20Technology%3A%20Why%20Aren%E2%80%99t%20Municipalities%20Onboard%3F "Share on Reddit") [ ](mailto:?subject=Phishing%20Prevention%20Technology%3A%20Why%20Aren%E2%80%99t%20Municipalities%20Onboard%3F&body=Check out this article: undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fphishing-prevention-technology-why-arent-municipalities-onboard%2F "Share via Email") ![Phishing Prevention](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/05/spf-record-tester-6644.jpg) If you haven’t heard lately, when it comes to getting phished, municipalities and local governments aren’t doing too well. _And it’s costing them a lot of money._ According to a recent article on [SC Magazine website](https://www.scmagazine.com/home/security-news/ransomware/ransomware-ravages-municipalities-nationwide-this-week/?utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=SCUS%5FNewswire%5F20190422&hmSubId=01xQvtS0ero1&email%5Fhash=0da939dab246e8101d6090def505f6f5&mpweb=1325-7367-1896988), four different municipalities were hit with **ransomware attacks** during the week of April 15, 2019\. The article said, “Augusta, Maine; Imperial County, Calif.; Stuart, Fla.; and Greenville, N.C. were all in different stages of recovering from ransomware attacks over the last seven days.” In the case of Augusta, Maine, the article mentioned that, “The attack has affected the police dispatch system, the municipal financial systems, billing, automobile excise tax records, assessor’s records and general assistance.” It doesn’t get much worse than that. [![malware](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/05/spf-validator-6644.jpg)](/phishing-protection/phishing-prevention-technology-why-arent-municipalities-onboard/attachment/print-5) The article further stated that, “The city said the malware gained entry into its network in an unknown fashion.” Malware doesn’t just show up. It has very specific delivery mechanisms and it almost always involve email (i.e., phishing). Just in case you think municipalities getting phished isn’t a gigantic problem, “_Officials in Jackson County, Georgia, paid $400,000 to cyber-criminals to get rid of a **ransomware infection** and regain access to their IT systems_,” [according to awareness training company KnowBe4](https://web.archive.org/web/20260215083735/https://blog.knowbe4.com/georgia-county-pays-a-whopping-400000-to-get-rid-of-a-ransomware-infection). To put that in perspective, you can protect an organization of 100 employees with advanced [cloud-based phishing protection](/email/phishing-protection) for less than 50 bucks a month. That means Jackson County, GA could pay for 470 years of **phishing protection** for the amount of ransomware they paid. Talk about an ounce of prevention. It’s not just counties though. Cities, government agencies and school districts are getting stung too. The city of Chicago lost more than $1 million in a **phishing scam** [according the CBS Chicago](https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/04/18/chicago-department-of-aviation-phishing-scam/). The news outlet stated, “_The City of Chicago’s Department of Aviation thought it was paying an approved vendor more than $1 million for services earlier this year._” When asked about the breach, security expert Paul Peterfish said, “It’s certainly easier than robbing a bank.” The Oregon Department of Human Services, got [hit by a phishing scam](https://www.scmagazine.com/home/security-news/phishing-scam-stings-oregon-dept-of-human-services-compromises-emails-containing-resident-data/?utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=SCUS%5FNewswire%5F20190327&hmSubId=01xQvtS0ero1&email%5Fhash=0da939dab246e8101d6090def505f6f5&mpweb=1325-6711-1896988). The compromise resulted in a data breach that exposed in excess of 1.5 million records of state residents, including sensitive information protected under HIPAA like social security numbers and birth dates. “According to a March 21 Oregon DHS [press release](https://www.oregon.gov/DHS/DHSNEWS/NewsReleases/Data-Breech-News%20Release-2019-03-21.pdf), the incident took place last Jan. 8, when nine separate agency employees opened a **spear phishing** email and clicked on a link that compromised their email mailboxes and the two million emails within.” [![email mailboxes](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/05/spf-permerror-6644.jpg)](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/05/spf-permerror-6644.jpg) Scott County School District in Georgetown, KY was a victim of $3.7 million CEO fraud according to [KnowBe4](https://web.archive.org/web/20260314171123/https://blog.knowbe4.com/scott-county-schools-victim-of-3.7-million-ceo-fraud-scam). The article stated, “The FBI is now investigating after Superintendent Dr. Kevin Hub said an undisclosed vendor told the district it never was paid for an invoice from two weeks ago. As the district investigated, it learned it fell victim to a fraudulent email disguising as the vendor. The school lost $3.7 million as a result of the scam.” ### How many months of phishing prevention would that pay for? Why aren’t municipalities onboard with **phishing prevention technology**? It’s easy to deploy, incredibly affordable and more importantly, it works. Why do they have to learn this the hard way and pay huge ransoms? If I were a taxpayer in one of these jurisdictions, I’d sure want to know why. ![Brad Slavin](https://media.mailhop.org/dmarcreport/images/team/brad-slavin.jpg) Brad Slavin General Manager General Manager at DuoCircle. Product strategy and commercial lead across the email security portfolio. ## Secure your email infrastructure Protect, authenticate, and deliver. Contact our team to find the right solution. [Contact Sales](/contact/) [Explore Products](/products/) Share this article [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.duocircle.com%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fphishing-prevention-technology-why-arent-municipalities-onboard%2F) [ ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Phishing%20Prevention%20Technology%3A%20Why%20Aren%E2%80%99t%20Municipalities%20Onboard%3F&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.duocircle.com%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fphishing-prevention-technology-why-arent-municipalities-onboard%2F) [ ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.duocircle.com%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fphishing-prevention-technology-why-arent-municipalities-onboard%2F) Copy Related Articles - [ ![AI-Generated Phishing](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2026/04/spf-record-4522.jpg) AI-Generated Phishing Has Eliminated the Typo: Why Traditional Email Filters Are No Longer Enough Phishing ](/blog/ai-generated-phishing-eliminates-typos-making-traditional-email-filters-ineffective/) - [ ![spf-permerror-4555](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2023/05/spf-permerror-4555.jpg) 10 Applications of ChatGPT that Hackers Are Already Exploiting Phishing ](/blog/phishing-protection/10-applications-of-chatgpt-that-hackers-are-already-exploiting/) - [ ![Email-Based Cyber-Attacks](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2016/03/spf-record-tester-4455.jpg) 65% of Global Businesses Ill-Equipped to Defend Against Email-Based Cyber-Attacks Phishing ](/blog/phishing-protection/65-global-businesses-ill-equipped-defend-email-based-cyber-attacks/) - [ ![Email-based Ransomware Attacks](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2018/02/email-smtp-service-7834.jpg) 7 Ways to Protect Your Organization from Email-based Ransomware Attacks Phishing ](/blog/phishing-protection/7-ways-protect-organization-email-based-ransomware-attacks/) ## Related Articles [ Phishing 11m AI-Generated Phishing Has Eliminated the Typo: Why Traditional Email Filters Are No Longer Enough Apr 28, 2026 ](/blog/ai-generated-phishing-eliminates-typos-making-traditional-email-filters-ineffective/)[ Phishing 5m 10 Applications of ChatGPT that Hackers Are Already Exploiting May 3, 2023 ](/blog/phishing-protection/10-applications-of-chatgpt-that-hackers-are-already-exploiting/)[ Phishing 4m 65% of Global Businesses Ill-Equipped to Defend Against Email-Based Cyber-Attacks Mar 29, 2016 ](/blog/phishing-protection/65-global-businesses-ill-equipped-defend-email-based-cyber-attacks/)[ Phishing 9m 7 Ways to Protect Your Organization from Email-based Ransomware Attacks Feb 11, 2018 ](/blog/phishing-protection/7-ways-protect-organization-email-based-ransomware-attacks/) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/images/duocircle-logo.png"},"description":"DuoCircle is a portfolio of specialized email products covering protection, authentication, delivery, and routing. 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