Dec 09, 2024

Reno County to update cybersecurity software

Posted Dec 09, 2024 11:14 AM
Reno County Courthouse in Fall-Photo by Sandra Milburn
Reno County Courthouse in Fall-Photo by Sandra Milburn

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Board of County Commissioners will discuss an update to the County's cybersecurity software at their meeting on Wednesday.

According to agenda documents, the Reno County IT department proposes transferring the county's EDR/MDR services from CrowdStrike to Sophos in order to save costs, while trying to ensure continuity of services and ongoing support from a reputable software vendor.

This change was necessitated by, not just the incident which occurred in July, but the response and service provided to Reno County both during and after the incident.

Additionally, the county was rejected opportunities for negotiation of costs.

The Sophos bid is slightly above the low bid from Fortinet, but would integrate more easily with the county's current infrastructure. Either way, the county will save tens of thousands of dollars over a renewal of CrowdStrike, regardless of the other considerations connected with July's security incident.

The Board of County Commissioners meets Wednesday at 9 a.m. in the Veterans Room of the Reno County courthouse.