City licensing cybersecurity software program modeled after human immune system

The metropolis of San Antonio is licensing software to enable its cybersecurity team to secure its internal computer community. The City Council, on April 18, authorized a $670,620 contract that runs through 2024 with SHI Government Solutions Inc., an Austin-based technology company, so that it can install and license the Darktrace software program. The first-year cost is $134,124, in line with the city. The Small Business Economic Development Advocacy Ordinance was waived due to the absence of providers for this carrier.

Darktrace describes itself as being modeled after the human immune system and appears for a unique sample of life within a laptop community as a baseline, then can flag issues as they aree discovered. Darktrace becomes additionally certified with the aid of the town of Las Vegas to understand the town’s inner computer system for its 3,000 personnel.

“This is a next-generation tool. It was once a far greater manual operation of an analyst having to glance through firewall or device logs,” said Patsy Boozer, leader of information security officers at the town of San Antonio. “This doesn’t take the analyst out of the equation, but the attention to what they want to. It’s more about performance.” The metropolis has eight cybersecurity analysts accountable for more than sixteen 000 devices and accounts related to the metropolis’s computer network.

In August 2018, the metropolis initiated evidence of an idea with Darktrace and piloted the software. It had worked with a professional from Gartner, a worldwide studies and advisory enterprise, to identify alternative solutions on the market.

The plan is to use this software program because of the city’s internal gadget as it joins a shared cybersecurity platform. San Antonio makes use of a nationally recognized cybersecurity framework to protect the town’s computer infrastructure.

“I desired something with a graphical display, and if it changed into going to take a Ph.D. To use, that wouldn’t make paintings,” Boozer stated. The software creates profiles of how computers and devices generally act daily, like recurring visitors.

“It’s like having a protective shield at a shop. There is a regular pattern of human beings moving out of the doors with receipts in their arms and packing containers. Then, when [the guard] sees any person with bins but no receipt, they flag it,” Boozer stated.