Council briefed on federal cybersecurity grants and planned network upgrades at wastewater plant
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Summary
City staff said federal and state grants will fund a completed Cisco identity-security project and a separate award to replace critical network switches at the River Protection Water Reclamation Facility; council asked about expanding grants and funding stability.
Dan Wardell, a city IT briefing official, told the Spokane City Council at an agenda-setting meeting that the city filed an extension for a federally funded Cisco identity-security project and will seek reimbursement for work already completed.
Wardell said the Cisco Identity Services Engine work adds physical-layer protections that can identify and block unauthorized devices when they are plugged into the municipal network, and that the city has filed the required extension with the state. "If somebody plugged into our network who wasn't supposed to be here, it'll identify and block them, and we get an alert," Wardell said.
Wardell also briefed council on a second grant award, for roughly $100,000, to upgrade critical infrastructure network switches at the River Protection Water Reclamation Facility. He told the council that one switch at the plant had not been power-cycled in more than nine years and that the Department of Homeland Security and state emergency management have put increased attention on critical-infrastructure networks.
Councilor Bagel asked whether the city could expand such upgrades by pursuing more grant opportunities for public-works systems. Wardell said the state reduced the grant ceiling to about $100,000 per award and that he plans to request three additional grants focused on public-works systems in the coming month. "We're going to be requesting 3 additional grants this year, and it'll be right around that hundred thousand dollar mark," Wardell said.
Wardell told the council he had met with state officials and that the funds are currently allocated and recommended to move forward; he said emergency management and the state chief information security officer advised continuing the grant process and that the funds appear encumbered for these projects.
No formal council vote was recorded on these briefings. Wardell said city staff will file for reimbursement for the completed Cisco project and proceed with procurement and installation for the wastewater plant switches under the awarded grant terms.
