JOPLIN, Mo. — Local businesses and government officials take part in some cyber security training today.

Stronghold Data hosted a ransomware tabletop exercise at its new offices in Joplin on Tuesday, October 4th This event was exclusively for the public sector and government officials and facilitated by the Missouri Department of Homeland Security.

Participants experienced a simulated cyber security incident and then examined their response preparedness.

They focused on areas of coordination, collaboration, and information sharing. This training isn’t only for the benefit of the entities involved, but average citizens as well.

“The government is us, right, and so this really does impact their ability to protect our information that they are stewards of, so helping our public entities protect that information is important all the way down to very citizen,” said James Richards, CEO of Stronghold Data.