LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, June 8, 2022
A3
County invests in improving cybersecurity New phones approved
Cybersecurity
Other business
The commissioners also
approved:
• The modifi cation of
a grant agreement for a
change in funding from the
USDA Forest Service. The
original agreement was for
$6,600. The modifi cation
adds another $6,600 for a
total of $13,200 to help law
enforcement on national for-
est land.
• A services agreement
with Paige Sully as county
counsel.
• A request by Scott Siebe
for an easement to extend a
culvert on Reavis Lane near
Enterprise.
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“During that time, there
has been a few things it has
picked up that are out of
normal, one being Dropbox
because of the fi le sizing,”
she said.
Dropbox
has
been
fl agged, though it didn’t shut
the system down, she said.
“This only happens once
or twice a month and I was
able to say, ‘This is OK.’ But
what if it was our fi nance
department or IT depart-
ment, it would say, ‘No, wait
a minute. You guys don’t do
this,’ and it would shut that
down. It would fl ag it and
you’d come back and look at
the logs and see who did it,”
Fregulia said.
She emphasized the
importance of improving the
cybersecurity of the county
systems.
“This is another step into
the cybersecurity infrastruc-
ture that will help the county,
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activity and what is not.
“When it goes outside its
normal path, say, someone
put a virus on your computer,
if that all of a sudden spikes
and is out of the normal pro-
cesses of where it would
normally send emails or
have normal traffi c to some
other person’s IP (internet
protocol) address in another
country or another city or
somewhere that’s outside of
the normal scope of where it
normally works in, it’ll shut
it down,” she said.
Once Darktrace’s Anti-
gena element shuts the sys-
tem down, it fl ags whatever
anomaly caused the shut-
down and issues an alert so
the system administrator can
see what is happening and
determine if the activity is
acceptable or not.
During the trial run,
Darktrace has detected a few
anomalies.
N
Fregulia told the com-
missioners she recently
went to an Oregon Govern-
ment Information Technol-
ogy conference, where rep-
resentatives of counties and
cities in the state go to learn
more about vendors, secu-
rity issues “and things that
are happening in society
today.”
She became familiar with
a system called Darktrace.
Drew Staudacher of Dark-
trace attended the commis-
sion meeting via Zoom, but
deferred to Fregulia on her
presentation.
Fregulia said that for
more than a month, there
has been a Darktrace device
on the county network in a
trial run testing everything.
She said Darktrace has an
artifi cial intelligence ele-
ment built into it to monitor
the traffi c on every computer
workstation, switches and
all elements of the network
to determine what is normal
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Tera Elliott, administrative assistant for the Wallowa County
Board of Commissioners, works on her computer alongside
the phone system in the courthouse. On Wednesday, June 1,
2022, the commissioners voted to add a new security system
for the computers and to upgrade the phone system.
ENTERPRISE — Sta-
cey Fregulia, information
technology director for the
county, reminded commis-
sioners during the Wallowa
County Board of Commis-
sioners meeting June 1 the
county’s current telephone
service provider, Mitel, will
end support for software in
June 2023. The company
has set a date of 2026 for
total withdrawal.
Fregulia has investigated
several diff erent companies
and found Matrix Networks,
which specializes in hard-
ware and software support
for Mitel systems. It was
Matrix that brought this to
her attention after the county
was informed last summer
on Mitel’s end-of-life cycle.
“Not only do we have
to get new software sup-
port, now we have to get a
whole new phone system,”
Fregulia said.
She said many busi-
nesses are pushing toward
the cloud platforms because
of a greater demand caused
by the COVID-19 pandemic
and associated use.
Fregulia sat through
demonstrations of several
phone systems and many
were too costly.
“The other problem with
it is we have our Justice
Center and our DA’s (district
attorney) offi ces that have to
be CJIS (Criminal Justice
Informational Service) com-
pliant,” she said. “That is,
15 % & 10 %
2
ENTERPRISE — Two
major technology purchases
were approved Wednes-
day, June 1, by the Wallowa
County Board of Commis-
sioners — a cybersecurity
system and a new telephone
system.
Both
systems
were
approved because the tech-
nology used is becom-
ing outdated, said Stacey
Fregulia, information tech-
nology director for the
county.
any information about wit-
nesses, arrests, things like
that … have to be secure and
confi dential. You can’t have
those going over platforms
or clouds of any sort without
security.”
Matrix’s Ring Central
was the only system she wit-
nessed that was both CJIS
compliant and cost-eff ective.
To implement Ring Cen-
tral will cost $6,953.41 with
an annual fee of more than
$11,600. The 63 phones
belong to Matrix, so the
company will maintain
them.
At present, the county
pays more than $25,000 a
year.
The
commissioners
approved the Matrix plan.
“We get better service
and pay less money,” Com-
mission Chairwoman Susan
Roberts said.
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
RD
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
in a sense, because we can’t
hire someone to come in
and go through those logs
and monitor them 24/7,” she
said. “We just can’t aff ord
it. This, however, cuts down
the cost of bringing those
cybersecurity/IT-type issues
in and lets you see it.”
Fregulia said it would cost
at least $80,000-$100,000 a
year for an IT expert to mon-
itor and protect the county’s
computer systems.
“With that being said,
Darktrace, where it’s just
monitoring for a shutdown,
is just $12,000 a year,” she
said.
Adding the Antigena
autonomous response ele-
ment brings the total to
$20,071 a year. That’s a
40% discount from the reg-
ular price the county can get
if it approves Darktrace by
June 15.
Commissioners
Susan
Roberts and John Hillock
each said they’ve had trou-
ble with Dropbox. Hillock
said he’s had diffi culty open-
ing documents related to the
East Moraine Forest Man-
agement Plan. He and Rob-
erts both said they need to
review the plan this week.
Commissioner Todd Nash
was not present June 1.
Fregulia said Dropbox
should be workable and it
may be a problem with the
commissioners’ computers
that she will look into.
When Hillock asked
where the county will get the
money to pay for Darktrace,
Fregulia said it already was
in her department’s budget,
“just in case.”
The
commissioners
agreed the county needs
the cybersecurity Darktrace
off ers and voted to approve
the plan.
TH
Current county
systems nearing
obsolescence
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IN BRIEF
Bridge work brings
lane closures
Motorists can expect lane
closures on Oregon Highway
82 at Bear Creek Bridge start-
ing Monday, June 6. There
will be single-lane access
controlled by an automated
traffi c signal.
The contractor, HP Civil,
Inc., will begin work on foun-
dations for the new bridge.
The lane reduction will
last through summer and
is needed to accommodate
excavation along the river-
bank for the new bridge foun-
dation and abutments.
As part of this work, the
contractor will be drilling ver-
tical shafts into the bedrock
then fi lling them with rebar
and concrete. In August, the
contractor will begin work
on the new bridge abutments
and river embankment retain-
ing wall.
At the end of summer, the
contractor will reconstruct the
existing roadway. Both lanes
will then be open until work
resumes in 2023. Abutment
construction will be com-
plete and girders will be set in
spring of 2023. The remain-
der of the new structure will
be completed fall 2023.
For more information,
visit the project webpage:
OR 82: Bear Creek (Wallowa
River) Bridge.
Soroptimists
taking scholarship
applications
ENTERPRISE — With
the intention recognizing
and encouraging the con-
tinued educational pursuits
of an outstanding woman of
Wallowa County, the Sorop-
timist Continuing Under-
graduate Scholarship will
be awarded to any woman
seeking a two- or four-year
degree.
The $5,000 scholarship
will be paid to the school the
selected woman is attending
after receipt of a verifi cation
of enrollment, according to a
press release.
The successful appli-
cant must be a Wallowa
County woman seeking a
degree who is enrolled at an
accredited college/univer-
sity, vocational or technical
program; has completed one
year of undergraduate stud-
ies; and is enrolling in the
fall of 2022.
The application dead-
line is June 30. Applications
should be mailed to Sorop-
timist, P.O. Box 127, Enter-
prise, OR 97828.
For more information,
call 541-263-2276.
Concert series
opens June 9
ENTERPRISE — Locals
and visitors to Wallowa
County will once again
enjoy a variety of live music
every Thursday on the shady
lawn of the county court-
house in Enterprise.
The Wallowa Valley
Music Alliance has been
presenting this event since
2006. Everything from folk
songs to brass bands will
delight audiences as they
pause for some relaxing out-
door time with family and
friends.
Musicians from all over
the Pacifi c Northwest will
grace the courthouse stage
this summer. The opening
concert on June 9 will fea-
ture Wallowa County’s own
Jezebel’s Mother (Carolyn
Lochert and Janis Carper)
with special guest from Bell-
ingham, Washington, Tracy
Spring. All three artists are
accomplished songwriters
and performers, and fea-
ture some wonderful vocal
harmonies.
Concerts run from 5:30
to 7 p.m., and are free and
open to the public. Picnic
blankets and lawn chairs are
encouraged.
The Courthouse Concert
Series schedule can be found
at wvmusicalliance.org.
— Chieftain staff
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This week’s featured book
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V. Gene Martin
November 24, 1941 - March 12, 2022
Gene Martin was born in Poplar Bluff,
Missouri. He lived on his grandpa’s farm,
and showed an independent streak at an
early age. He ran wild along the Mississip-
pi and Black rivers, riding a mule to school,
and skipping that as often as possible. He
learned to drive an old Willys Jeep with
blocks on the pedals so he could reach. He
always said that a lot of his athletic skills
came from running with his hounds and
jumping over the cottonmouths and cop-
perhead snakes that hid along the trails.
Later he lived with his mother in Cor-
bett, Oregon, and attended school there.
He excelled in all sports and rode his bike
on the old Columbia River highway from
Crown Point down to the falls -- with no
brakes, of course. He left home there and
went to the Spokane, Washington, area, at-
tending school at Cheney where he lived
with the Gamon family, and graduating
from Medical Lake High School. During
this time he worked for the railroad, set-
ting ties with the tie gang, and traveled all
across the United States. His co-workers
called him hermano grande, or big brother.
He was very active in FFA, raising and
showing Black Angus and working with
dairy cows. He went on to attend college at
Tri-Cities on a track scholarship, where he
ran the 400, high jumped and played foot-
ball. After that he moved to Elgin where he
worked in the newly opened Boise Cascade
sawmill for several years before transfer-
ring to northern California. He claimed the
move from Elgin to the San Francisco area
in the early 1960s was culture shock, since
Elgin didn’t have hippies.
His entire life his love of the outdoors
and all things Jeep led him on many ad-
ventures, including traveling the famous
Rubicon trail over the Sierras many times.
He claimed to have driven most of the Jeep
trails between Canada and Baja, Mexico.
Working in northern California as a li-
censed psychiatric technician, he moved
around several facilities for the mentally
challenged, a job he held many different
times in his life.
He also was involved in the Big
Brothers organization where he met for-
mer actor Fred McMurray, and cartoon-
ist Charles Schultz. Later he tired of the
hustle and bustle of the cities, and moved
back to his old hunting grounds in Joseph.
Gene was the first certified corrections
officer in Wallowa County, and also rode
with Search and Rescue. He continued to
“go jeeping” and hunt around the Wal-
lowas.
He met his wife Sharon in Joseph and
they were married at Hurricane Creek
Grange Hall -- he claimed it was “the far-
thest he’d go” for a wedding.
All his life Gene worked with kids. He
coached many sports and loved kids of all
ages. His children were always bringing
home friends who became part of his ex-
tended family. He loved his kids -- Tim,
Dan and Andrea, and was very involved
in their lives and sports training. He taught
them to love the outdoors and all the crea-
tures that inhabit it (and Jeeps).
He was a proud grandpa to Darian, Jeri-
cho, Samantha, Braeli, Mason and Makae-
li. He was also a lifelong St. Louis Cardi-
nals and Kansas City Chiefs fan, and was
proud of watching every Super Bowl.
Gene passed away at home, where he
wanted to be, on March 12, 2022, after an
extended period of health problems. Con-
tributions in his memory may be made
to the Gene V. Martin Memorial Fund at
Community Bank.
A celebration of life/open house will be
held on Father’s Day, June 19 from 11 a.m.
to 2 p.m. at the Hurricane Creek Grange
hall. Please drop by and share a memory of
Gene with his family. Written memorials
would be appreciated too. Refreshments
will be served.