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La Paz County IT seeks $240,000 for server upgrade, SIEM and enterprise Wi‑Fi
Summary
County IT outlined cybersecurity gains and asked the Board to fund a server operating‑system upgrade ($100,000), a security information and event management system (~$90,000) and enterprise Wi‑Fi (~$50,000) to reduce intrusion risk and modernize county networks.
La Paz County’s IT lead told the Board the county has moved key systems onto a unified network and switched to state‑provided CrowdStrike for endpoint protection, but told supervisors further investment is needed to keep infrastructure secure and up to date.
The county plans three near‑term projects: upgrade server operating systems before Microsoft ends support for older platforms in 2027, implement a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system to detect intrusions early, and replace consumer Wi‑Fi devices with centrally managed enterprise equipment. “In January ’27, the Microsoft Server 2016 operating system is no longer supported,” the IT presenter said, explaining the server upgrade is urgent.
Why it matters: the presenter said the county recently completed a network consolidation—new firewalls and switches link satellite offices into one virtual network—and that endpoint protection changes and consolidated firewalls dramatically improved security reporting. But wireless access points remain the most common intrusion vector, he said, and replacing ad‑hoc routers with Fortinet‑managed access points plus multi‑factor authentication would close a persistent vulnerability.
Budget and options: the staff estimate for the three items was given as roughly $100,000 for servers, $90,000 for a SIEM, and $50,000 for enterprise Wi‑Fi equipment. The IT lead also said staff are evaluating a cloud migration versus onsite upgrades, noting cloud migration could reduce three‑year capital refresh cycles but would change ongoing operating costs.
Board questions and context: supervisors asked about timing (the presenter said a software rather than hardware upgrade is needed now) and whether baseline budgets could absorb parts of the cost. Staff said the projects tie directly to prior audit findings about cybersecurity and to the county’s written information security program (WISP), which they plan to present to the Board soon.
Next steps: the IT lead requested the Board consider the capital asks as part of the FY27 budget discussion and offered to return with cost comparisons for on‑premises upgrades versus cloud migration.
