Staff recommends the approval of the 1-Year renewal of the suite of Mimecast cloud-based Email protection services in the amount of $92,528.46

The City of Billings has relied on the Email Filter & Protection Services from Mimecast since 2019. Email is the top attack vector to any organization's cybersecurity shield and therefore requires the strongest possible protection. Mimecast is an industry leading cloud-based suite of services that blocks the most dangerous email-born attacks, from phishing and ransomware to social engineering, payment fraud, domain spoofing, and impersonation. We subscribe to a host of AI and machine learning tools designed to block spam, viruses, and malware. Every Email attachment and URL/link is scanned to prevent impersonation fraud, ransomware, phishing, and spear-phishing attacks. Additionally, any link that is clicked within an Email is opened in safe browser session designed to isolate the end-user's computer from any sites that may be harmful.  This renewal includes email tracker prevention which disarms trackers embedded in emails, halting the inadvertent disclosure of information that could be used by a bad actor to craft a social engineering attack.  Also included, at no additional cost, is the Cybersecurity Awareness Training videos that everyone is familiar with. This added bonus allows us to meet our Cybersecurity Training goals at little or no additional cost to the organization.

The suite of Email services from Mimecast are a critical part of our Cybersecurity strategy to protect our organization from unwanted malicious attacks.

City Council may:

• Approve the 1-Year Renewal of Mimecast Email Protection Services or,
• Not Approve

The total cost of the 1-year renewal of services with Mimecast is $92,528.46. This purchase will be funded by the Information Technology Department FY25 approved budget and purchased through SHI, Inc on the State of Montana/NASPO Contract # AR2488.