The client
The Óbuda-Békásmegyer Mayor’s Office of Budapest Capital District III represents the interests of more than 125,000 residents of Óbuda and Békásmegyer on a daily basis.
The IT professional manager
István Molnár has been working as an IT administrator for more than 30 years. With a degree in electrical engineering and technical computer science, he first became acquainted with IT security 25 years ago, and since then it has also influenced his work as an IT administrator.
Dr. Bálint Tass, Deputy Registrar and Head of Department
Server consolidation
In 2006, a comprehensive audit was carried out at the Óbuda-Békásmegyer Mayor’s Office, including a review of the IT function. The routine IT audit ended with concrete and interesting recommendations. To consolidate the physical servers, the audit firm recommended the use of server virtualization, which was not common in the competitive sector at the time.
And how did Andrews come into the picture? We were one of the companies shortlisted for the job, and the agency commissioned our company to carry it out.
We started the server consolidation by assessing the existing hardware infrastructure. In addition to mapping the physical elements, our experts calculated the amount of storage space that would be needed in the future. During the consolidation, we replaced 15-20 servers in the office with a total of 3 physical servers.
The IT infrastructure set up in 2006 has not been allowed to become obsolete, and the existing physical servers and solutions have been continuously upgraded in 6–8-year cycles, with their expertise and our help always at hand.
Currently, 25-30 virtual servers serve the IT needs of the Office. Although the demand for more servers has increased over time, there has been no need to physically expand the system, resulting in much less money being spent on hardware. The three physical servers also ensure redundancy of the systems and thus continuity of the Office’s processes. This means that no matter affecting a district residents is delayed, for example, everyone can pay parking fines on time.
We entrusted WMware with the virtualization, and our experts helped us with the license acquisition, virtual server design and configuration. To complete the new IT infrastructure, we also added a data storage solution to the physical servers, choosing NetApp Storage.
Saving data instead of ransom
As the legal framework changed and the demands on the office increased, a backup solution was needed, which served well in the event of a ransomware virus. Act L. of 2013 on the Electronic Information Security of State and Local Government Bodies strengthened the security of the national electronic data assets, the information systems that manage them, and critical information systems and system components, requiring the existence of mandatory system components.
Further strengthening the existing relationship of trust, our experts helped the office to integrate and implement the Veem backup solution to comply with the law. The backup solution allows the office to back up their data assets daily, ensuring data availability and integrity.
The backup solution was put to practical use in two critical cases. In two cases, a ransomware attack occurred, resulting in the encryption of data on the infected computer. In neither case did a ransom have to be paid, as the encrypted data was recovered from the daily backup. It took half a day to restore the data and clean up the workstation, so the affected employee was able to return to work quickly.
Log Analysis Solution to SOC Service
Also due to the legal requirements, it was necessary to implement a log analysis solution at the office. The logging application LOGalyze was recommended by Andrews’ experts in 2016. Our specialists also developed the business logic and proposals for processing alerts from different devices.
After the log analysis solution, it was a logical step to introduce the Security Operations Center. This means that instead of the administrator, IT security problems are dealt with by our experts on a daily basis. The expertise and experience of an outsourced IT security team protects both the Mayor’s Office IT infrastructure and the administrator’s peace of mind.
“Working together, I have received a lot of concrete answers to questions that will help me to further build security awareness in the mayor’s office. Every shared task is another step towards our joint professional development”, concluded István Molnár.
Sounds familiar?
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Molnár István, rendszergazda
Budapest Főváros III. Kerület Óbuda-Békásmegyeri Polgármesteri Hivatala
“Andrews' professionals are flexible and skilled enough to provide expert advice on any IT security issue, whether it's day-to-day operations or a more complex, strategic area. They are open to any enquiry, jumping right in and helping you find a solution. A relationship of trust built up over decades ensures that they represent the IT security interests of the Mayor's Office as if they were their own.”
