WREC Talks AI and Internet Security at Computer Club Meeting

On February 17, keynote speakers from the Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative addressed the Hernando Computer Club on artificial intelligence and internet security.

Mike Gayda, Director of Information Technology for Withlacoochee, discussed the co-op’s use of artificial intelligence and what that means for the company on Monday. He has worked at the cooperative for 7 years and 18 years in the field.

Gayda showed the gathered crowd a short “training” video detailing how easy it can be to create a “data spill” if one is not careful. The key takeaway is that one must be careful and not put sensitive information into AI programs such as Chat GPT, Copilot, and Gemini.

The information technology director acknowledges that this can be a murky situation because organizations like Withlacoochee use AI to process more than 80 million security events per day to keep people’s information safe.

“In the last 30 days, 2.3 billion events came through our systems,” said Gayda. “Without the use of AI, I can tell you, a four-person team is going to have a very hard time processing all that data. So, yes, AI is helping us. AI and big data […] This is how you start to keep the edge on the bad guy.”

Withlacoochee is one of the largest electric cooperatives in the United States and has served the citizens of Hernando County since 1947. According to Withlacoochee’s Manager of Member Relations, Gary Steele, they have given back $23.2 million to their members each of the last two years. This is more than any other cooperative in the nation.

“The difference is we are local. All the folks at our office up here on 50, everybody that works there lives and works right here in this community,” Steele said. “We are not coming from Tampa to work on the lines in your neighborhood […] When we have horrible events come […] and knock your power out, it is somebody local that is hooking up your power. We think it makes a difference.”

Hollis Taylor, the computer club’s Community Services Director, apprised the 40-plus member crowd of the work their leadership had done with Eastside Elementary and Principal Mike Lastra. As the Sun had reported last month, the club held a drive for the students who were affected by the flooding in eastern Hernando, but another project was taking shape.

Upon delivering the items for the children, Dr. Lastra noted to Taylor the school’s need for whisper phones for several of their students. The computer club has had plenty of experience distributing these educational devices to schools before the pandemic. Among those surveyed at the school, 232 teachers and students requested whisper phones from the
club.

Continuing in the technological vein, the Hernando Computer Club also has several classes going on for members to enjoy, Education Director Charleen Scime noted. She has held a minimum of two “beginner/refresher” courses per month since November, and these cover topics such as email, settings, web browsing, word processing, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing.

Apple workshops take place on the first Thursday of every month, while the first Tuesday of each month is focused on Android devices. Other areas like writing, genealogy, and painting are represented in these courses, among others.

The club will be holding the Gray Alexander Memorial School Supply Drive in July, and they are looking for more help maintaining their plot of land, known as Fantasy Garden, at the Nature Coast Botanical Gardens in Spring Hill.