Dawson County IT Director James Tolbert presented to the Board of Commissioners Aug. 23 his department’s recommendations for cyber security updates that could potentially cost in the area of $80,000 a year. A sophisticated ransomware attack at the end of April crippled many of the county’s computer systems, and as a result multiple department heads presented requests to move to cloud-based systems during budget hearings this year. The board of commissioners subsequently asked Tolbert to come up with a recommendation for updates to the county’s systems to increase cyber security. “There is no state contract for cyber security, so what we’ve done is a lot of work, went out and got some pricing on cyber security for the remainder of this year and also for the 2019 budget,” Tolbert said.