At today’s COW the majority of Council (Barrow, West, Chan, Cilevitz) were not in favour of waiving the Cyber Insurance requirement for Coinberry.
Councillor Di Paola and Muench felt that waiving the Cyber Insurance requirement was okay. Councillors Perrelli, Beros and Liu were conspicuously absent for the vote.
So what’s next? RH staff are still in negotiations with Coinberry however if they do not provide the requested Cyber Insurance then the deal is off.
At the July 9, 2019 Council meeting, staff were directed to enter into negotiations with Coinberry Limited to introduce cryptocurrency as a property tax payment option.
Negotiations with Coinberry Limited are progressing well except for the Cyber Insurance Coverage requirement. City staff have yet to receive the requisite proof of Cyber Insurance coverage and are requesting direction from Council at the Committee of the Whole meeting on Wednesday December 4th.
Representatives for Coinberry have indicated that premium costs for such insurance is very expensive given the sector of the business, and that it is a preference that it not be a requirement of an agreement.
It is standard and expected by the City’s insurer to request Cyber Insurance from all vendors that have access to the City’s website or systems, and take payments on our own behalf.
Why is Cyber Insurance important? Over recent years there has been a greater number of cyber attacks on Public Sector organizations and thus the concern of potential risks when the City engages services of relevant third-party vendors.
If there was a breach through the Coinberry site and they had no Cyber Insurance coverage, City staff have been advised by our insurer that there would be no coverage under the City’s Cyber Insurance policy for expenses incurred (including potential claims for breached information).
Point of interest. Elio Di Iorio, former RH Councillor and long time friend of Councillor Dipaola, is a Strategic Advisor with Coinberry who according to his LinkedIn facilitated the single source Coinberry contract with RH. Di Iorio also facilitated the single source Coinberry contract with Innisfil. The first person make a property tax payment to Innisfil through Coinberry was Dr. Evan Hill founding member of Daddius.com. Elio Di Iorio is also one of the founding members of Daddius .com.