Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the It Cybersecurity topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Peterborough IT budget increases for cybersecurity, police system moved off town network
Summary
Town IT leaders told the Select Board and Budget Committee they plan enhanced cybersecurity (secondary endpoint protection and a Password Vault), storage upgrades, and to segregate the Police Department email and cloud to meet criminal-justice requirements; PEG broadcast upgrades will be funded from franchise-fee revenues.
Peterborough IT and GIS staff outlined a series of budget increases and operational changes at the Select Board and Budget Committee meeting on Jan. 28, citing rising software and security costs and planned upgrades to the town's public-access broadcast system.
Fash Farashahi, who presented the GIS and IT overview, said the GIS gallery on the town website includes ParcelViewer, a Natural Resource Inventory app, flood mapping and trails maps, and that the department recently completed a 1-foot topography aerial flyover that provides greater precision than the prior 2-foot data. He said GIS did not submit a capital request this year.
On IT, Farashahi and IT specialist Tim Brezovec told the committee the proposed budget reflects higher expenses for cabling, UPS units, contract services and Microsoft product licensing. The IT team added a secondary endpoint security service to isolate devices if ransomware or other threats are detected, and they plan to purchase a Password Vault to securely store staff credentials instead of relying on insecure ad hoc practices.
Farashahi said the Police Department will be migrated to a separate email domain and government cloud to satisfy criminal justice information system (CJIS) requirements and will be segmented from the town network; he also said Town Clerk systems will see increased segmentation over time to meet state security obligations. Brezovec described a two-part storage design—one unit for backups and retention and a second for active database use—to improve performance.
Staff also described planned upgrades to the PEG (public education government) TV system—new cameras, a microphone array and a backend broadcast system that will also enable in-room Zoom capability. Farashahi emphasized PEG is funded by cable franchise fees rather than taxes and said the PEG revolving fund (used for the upgrade) had revenue estimated at about $3,488 this fiscal year; detailed Comcast viewership data for Channel 22 was not available, though U-Stream usage metrics are tracked.
Committee members asked about staff cybersecurity testing and AI use in town systems. Farashahi said phishing-click rates have fallen after testing and training, and that the town follows state AI ethics guidance while allowing AI features in certain Microsoft applications and some vendor services.
The committee did not take a final budget vote at the meeting; staff will carry forward the proposed increases in the budget review process.
