ITAC Focuses on Madison Heights Cybersecurity

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Madison Heights — Since 2014, the Information Technology Advisory Board has advised the Madison Heights City Council on how to modernize city operations. Over the past year, this has included cloud-based data management and other cybersecurity measures to help protect the city from privacy breaches and data theft.

Mark Bliss, Member of Madison Heights, said: City Council, by e-mail. “We found a similar-sized city in California with a technical committee full of local experts, and we knew right away that it was our solution.”

The Board meets as necessary to review the IT plan, discuss major purchases and improvements planned by the City, and provide suggestions and recommendations to ensure the City receives the best services and facilities in the best possible condition. Step through the technical requirements. price.

Recently, that has meant a boost in the area of ​​cybersecurity.

“We already have firewalls and endpoint protection software in place. However, given the recent increase in cyberattacks on local governments, the board should take immediate action on staff and the council.” I advised him,” said Bliss.

As a result, the city has moved to Microsoft Office 365. Microsoft Office 365 features secure cloud servers, enhanced threat protection, and more frequent security patches. Since then, the city has implemented multi-factor authentication for city employees and has plans to conduct annual penetration tests and ongoing employee security awareness training to help employees recognize potential threats. are preparing for

Bliss himself works in the IT field. He is currently his president and senior vice of marketing at a cybersecurity software company called DNSFilter. He also worked as a Vice President at Nuspire, a managed security services provider.

“We’ve seen first-hand how breaches affect organizations like our city,” said Bliss. “Through ITAC, I am glad that we have a system in place to prevent that.”

He noted the many other ways ITAC has already left its mark on the city.

“ITAC has been involved in every major technical debate since it was implemented. They gave me that,” said Bliss. “In addition, they have helped us upgrade our cell phones, change our City Council video from VHS tapes to live streaming 4K video, update our website, expand our online payments and services, and introduce police body cameras. .”

Police began using these body cameras in September 2020 at the recommendation of ITAC. We have also updated our on-board cameras to further improve accountability using technology proposed by ITAC. This included 50 new officer-worn cameras and 55 replacement vehicle cameras, as well as hardware to charge them, and access to a cloud-based data management and storage system. These are all part of his five-year contract with Axon. Known as TASER International, unanimously approved by the Council in August 2020.

In five years, the body camera will be updated twice and the dash camera once. The footage they collect is stored on servers in the basement of the Madison Heights Police Department for up to two years. And because Axon has her three-tier security system, her two backups of each file are also available in the cloud. The Redaction feature helps you more efficiently honor Freedom of Information Act requests. His five-year contract cost about $342,000, which included installation costs of about $105,600.

“The first time a bodycam was mentioned at a public meeting in our city was a proposal from ITAC,” Bliss said. “They reviewed not only the specifications, but also the policies we adopted, which gave us the confidence to proceed with the investment.”

Other city officials also thanked the board for its support.

Madison Heights City Councilman Quinn Wright said in an email: “Having a committee like this that gathers the views of residents and helps them make better-informed decisions is a great asset.”

Mayor Roslyn Grafstein added in an email: Bring them together to benefit the city and all residents. ”