Title
Vote to approve a one-year contract with Sophos for Managed Detection and Response and Incident Response Services at a cost of $131,278.00
Abstract
Chatham County IT currently utilizes the Arctic Wolf Platform to provide automated, around-the-clock threat detection and response. A similar service from Sophos would replace Arctic Wolf's services. The IT Department recommends signing a new contract with Sophos for a one (1) year period.
Introduction & Background: The IT Department has been using Arctic Wolf for Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services and 24/7 monitoring from Arctic Wolf’s Security Operations Center (SOC) for the past two fiscal years. Arctic Wolf was brought in to fill the gap in Chatham County’s IT security defense of the County’s network and data.
Discussion & Analysis: Arctic Wolf's services have indeed filled the existing security gap over the past and current fiscal years, but we have found their response times and ability to resolve issues to be lacking. We have evaluated several other MDR and SOC service providers and found Sophos' services to be best suited to meet the IT Department's requirements and to best protect our network and data.
How does this relate to the Comprehensive Plan: Moving to Sophos from Arctic Wolf directly supports Chatham County's commitment to resiliency as outlined in Plan Chatham’s Goal Eight. This service enhances our ability to mitigate, respond to, and adapt to evolving cyber threats, thereby safeguarding County operations and data.
Budgetary Impact: The cost of the service is $131,278.00. This is a continuing cost in the IT budget.
Recommendation/Motion: Motion to approve the contract with Sophos, a comprehensive network monitoring and vulnerability management platform with 24x7x365 monitoring, and a dedicated Concierge Team for Chatham County that will identify early cyber threats for one (1) year of service.