This may help some Texas school districts and other public agencies in Texas. I usually don’t post press releases that promote commercial services, but am making an exception because I like the idea that a state is trying to provide more proactive and defensive support to school districts as well as other state agencies:
FireEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: FEYE), the intelligence-led security company, today announced that it is working with the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) through Carahsoft, Inc.’s DIR contract DIR-TSO-4288 and DIR’s Bulk Purchase Agreement #BP2020-028, to offer cyber security defenses to Texas public sector agencies.
While ransomware victims span nearly every geographical region and industry, attacks on state and local municipalities have become especially pervasive. This is likely due to the fact that threat actors know the disruptive and destructive impact that these targeted ransomware incidents can have on critical operations of these high-availability organizations.
DIR facilitates contracts for state and local government entities, putting master contracts in place for technology products and services at discounted prices. Through the end of 2020, FireEye® security products and Mandiant® Solutions services are available to all Texas agencies, county governments, cities and school districts through DIR’s Bulk Purchase Initiative for Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solutions, located at: https://dir.texas.gov/View-Contracts-And-Services/Pages/Content.aspx?id=39.
Available FireEye products and services through the EDR include:
- FireEye Network Security, FireEye Email Security and FireEye Endpoint Security to safeguard critical computer systems
- FireEye Helix™ security operations platform allowing organizations to take control of incidents from alert to fix
- Mandiant Managed Defense and Mandiant Threat Intelligence to inform on attacker behaviors and help influence the taking of decisive action
- Mandiant Expertise On Demand for access to a wide range of Mandiant security skills, experience and knowledge to augment security teams with the help they need, when they need it
- Mandiant Purple Team Assessments to evaluate a security team’s ability to prevent, detect and respond to cyber attacks through the most relevant, realistic scenarios to improve detection response
“DIR has made resources available to the Texas public sector market to effectively combat the evolving threat of ransomware, and the need for these resources became even more apparent following last August’s ransomware attack on multiple local governments across Texas,” said Amanda Crawford, DIR Executive Director. “With these contracts for robust cyber security tools and services, we’re enabling Texas government entities to efficiently strengthen their ransomware defenses.”
“Mandiant ransomware investigations have skyrocketed in recent years,” said Pat Sheridan, Senior Vice President of Sales, Americas at FireEye. “We’ve also seen threat actors accelerating their use of new and destructive tactics to increase the likelihood of ransom payment. From big cities to small towns, no government is immune to ransomware. When organizations can detect and remediate the initial compromise quickly, it is possible to avoid the significant damage and cost of a ransomware infection. We applaud DIR for paving a clear path forward for its local agencies.”
Resources
FireEye remains committed to helping government leaders stay informed on today’s cyber threats. Learn more about protecting important assets from ransomware attacks, and what can be done in the event of experiencing one by registering for this September 29 webinar: https://carahevents.carahsoft.com/Event/Details/180665-FE
More on ransomware protection can also be found in the following blog post: https://www.fireeye.com/blog/products-and-services/2020/09/ransomware-recon-before-the-breach.html
For additional details on FireEye products and Mandiant services, please visit https://www.fireeye.com/products.html and https://www.fireeye.com/mandiant.html
Additional Texas Department of Information Resources EDR bulk purchase agreement information can be found at https://dir.texas.gov/View-Contracts-And-Services/Pages/Content.aspx?id=39
About FireEye, Inc.
FireEye is the intelligence-led security company. Working as a seamless, scalable extension of customer security operations, FireEye offers a single platform that blends innovative security technologies, nation-state grade threat intelligence, and world-renowned Mandiant consulting. With this approach, FireEye eliminates the complexity and burden of cyber security for organizations struggling to prepare for, prevent, and respond to cyber attacks. FireEye has over 9,300 customers across 103 countries, including more than 50 percent of the Forbes Global 2000.
© 2020 FireEye, Inc. All rights reserved. FireEye, Mandiant and Helix are registered trademarks or trademarks of FireEye, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other brands, products, or service names are or may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.