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Commission pushes to prioritize cybersecurity, cloud backups after recent attacks

Harlingen City Commission · August 14, 2026

Summary

IT staff urged continuing penetration testing, cloud backup expansion and hardware refresh for 64 aging Windows‑10 PCs; commissioners asked staff to pursue grants and return with a concise list of 'must‑have' IT items for the next workshop.

City IT staff described a set of cybersecurity and infrastructure priorities: recurring penetration testing ($17,000 reported), five‑year cloud storage renewal (expanding to 100 TB) and replacement of 64 Dell machines that cannot be upgraded off Windows 10. The staff representative explained, "These are the data switches where everybody connects..." and recommended replacing switches with newer models that include cybersecurity features and faster bandwidth.

Commissioners stressed that cybersecurity and data backup are essential and should be among the budget priorities. The commission asked IT and finance to return with a pared‑down list of essential items and timelines, and to pursue external grant opportunities such as state emergency management and university partnerships to reduce net cost.

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