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Kerr County approves UT Austin cybersecurity clinic partnership and countywide multifactor authentication rollout
Summary
The court unanimously authorized an agreement with the Texas Association of Counties to use a University of Texas Austin cybersecurity clinic for policy work at no charge, and separately approved implementation of multifactor authentication (MFA) for county network logins with Weaver Technologies, phased beginning in January.
Kerr County voted Dec. 8 to participate in a University of Texas Austin cybersecurity clinic program made available through the Texas Association of Counties. Staff described the internship model: a team of four to five cybersecurity students will work on county policy tasks during a spring term and deliver agreed products at no charge.
"This initial program will actually help us with current policies that are either out of date or nonexistent," the presenting staff member said. The court moved and unanimously authorized the county judge to sign the agreement.
In a separate but related technology item, the court approved a contract with Weaver Technologies to implement multifactor authentication (MFA) across the county network. IT staff described a phased rollout beginning in January, with mobile authenticator apps and physical tokens for environments such as the jail where tokens are preferable. Staff said MFA rollout will likely proceed department‑by‑department to reduce disruption.
The court emphasized the security benefits of MFA despite anticipated user inconvenience and asked for phased implementation details; staff noted the program is consistent with long‑term compliance and is aligned with standard practice in other secure environments.
