City of Nashua
Information Technology Department (603) 889-3300
Administrative Services Division Fax (603) 594-3434
229 Main Street - Nashua, NH 03060
To: Ms. Kelly Parkinson
Purchasing Manager, City of Nashua
229 Main St
Nashua, NH 03061-2019
Date: April 13, 2022
Re: Annual Software Maintenance
Ms. Parkinson,
The Information Technology Department is looking to purchase the next component to enhance the
City’s cybersecurity arsenal. Municipal entities are quickly becoming easy targets for a number of
reasons. Cyber criminals know that municipalities have limited budgets and can be understaffed
when it comes to technical expertise. Fortunately, Nashua is in a much better position than most
other municipalities of its size.
Creating a strong cybersecurity defense model involves implementing several layers of protection.
The old business model of having a port blocking firewall and an antivirus agent are antiquated.
Near the end of 2021, the Information Technology Department began searching for a product that
will assist in defending the City’s electronic infrastructure against ransomware, malware, and
security threats both now and in the future.
Three products were reviewed to meet this purpose:
Product Setup Yearly
Cost Recurring
Sophos Central $2,274 $77,901
Intercept
PaloAlto Cortex $17,900 $86,861
XDR
Darktrace Ent Inc $70,513
Immune
The Information Technology Department feels that Darktrace Enterprise Immune System is the most
comprehensive. This product uses Artificial Intelligence to learn actual network traffic patterns and
behavior in an environment. Their algorithms rank and categorize these patterns and will alert on,
and even disable, damaging activity as it is detected 24/7. It is like having IT Security personnel
around the clock. Darktrace also provides an email agent which complements the City’s existing
email filtering software for further protection against phishing scams and threats.
