From the Top with CEO Patrick Grace

We've all heard about cybersecurity breaches, whether big box stores have been the target or small, family-owned stores, they're a reality in the world we live in today. While every entity that stores any data at all is at risk for a cybersecurity breach, we want you to know we are taking every precaution available to ensure our security detail is the highest it can possibly be.

We take members' privacy very seriously — we don't share it or give it out unless we're court-ordered to do so. We do not store credit card data and follow processing protocol put in place by the National Information Solutions Cooperative, which houses our member database. This is why we don't take credit card payments in the office — all credit card transactions are completed by a third-party processor that is PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliant.

Focused efforts in cybersecurity resulted from a 2016 strategic initiative set forth by our board of trustees. Since then, one of our IT systems engineers, Brad Keener, worked with the National Guard on a cybersecurity exercise, and another IT systems engineer, Casey Davis, was selected to serve on the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association's Cybersecurity Member Advisory Group.

You can be certain we are doing everything we can to ensure your information is protected.

Our access to the electric grid might make co-ops appear to be relevant targets for a cyber attack, but we only distribute the electricity, we don't generate it or transmit it. I can ensure you our generation and transmission partner, Western Farmers Electric Cooperative, is taking necessary precautions to combat potential cyber attacks, as well.

In an uncertain world you can be certain of one thing: we continue to do everything we can to ensure our members can rely on the power and services we provide.