City begins process to a .gov domain, email addresses

Perryville is trying to make its online presence more secure.
The city has begun the process of changing its website and subsequent email addresses to .gov.
Currently, the city’s website is a .com address and Perryville City Administrator Brent Buerck noted that moving to a .gov. is the way to go in today’s technology climate.
“It’s a lot more secure address for municipalities and government entities,” Buerck said. “An arm of the government has to approve our city to get that. It’s much harder for someone to spoof us or impersonate someone in the city’s government. It’s more secure so we are going to move toward getting a .gov website and email addresses eventually.”
Only U.S based government and public sector organizations are eligible to obtain a .gov domain. This includes any federal, state, local or territorial government entity or other publicly controlled entity.
That eligibility is attested through a letter signed by a “authorizing” party and is a trusted and safe space. Gov domains must not distribute malware, host open redirects, or otherwise engage in other malicious activity.
Buerck noted that “many” city governments have .com or .org domains.
“When the city got its website, which was before I started here, we started with a .com and had used it to this point and now its time to change,” Buerck said. “

Buerck said that indemnity theft is a “big” problem around the world.
“Cyber security insurance is getting difficult to get now without certain precautions being taken,” Buerck said. “We are working with an IT company to make sure we have all the things in place and required to secure cybersecurity insurance. This is one of those steps.”
Buerck believes this change is needed for the future safety of Perryville.
“Anyone can open a .com website,” Buerck said. I think a .gov is without a doubt the most secure way to go about this. You have to go through some very extensive confirmation and identity regulations to have a .gov website to be more secure.”
This change has been on Buerck and the city’s to-do list for quite some time.
“It’s something that we talked about several years ago and looked into,” he said. “It was an inconvenience at that time so we didn’t go any further with it. Now knowing that there is a heightened level of security we believe now is the right time to go ahead and make the change.”
The website, along with email addresses such as those for the members of the Board of Aldermen will be changed, along with other city employees.
“I believe this is the right time to do it,” Buerck said.