Western Bay of Plenty District Council protects infrastructure with platformization

The Council needed to find an experienced partner they could trust to put them on the right path and complete the work within the budget. They chose Theta, whose Principal Consultant Stephan van Lieshout recommended Palo Alto Networks. From his past experience in working with other New Zealand organizations, van Lieshout says, “Palo Alto Networks solutions were effective and could be scaled down to effectively meet the needs of small-to-medium businesses [SMBs]; it’s not just for large enterprises.”

The Western Bay of Plenty District Council standardized on our complete platform strategy to strengthen cyber resilience across their entire infrastructure. A connected suite of ML-powered NGFWs reduced risk, increased efficiency, and supported agile citizen-centric digital services. This suite includes Cloud-Delivered Security Services (CDSS) with a GlobalProtect Always-On VPN and SD-WAN for NGFW subscription, as well as Cortex XDR endpoint security.

Shielded the public authority from cyberthreats

The Council has re-architected the entire network to provide complete, unified visibility, and control across more than 60 business services. ML-powered, cloud-based network security stops unknown zero-day attacks. GlobalProtect secures the Council’s applications their hybrid workforce uses—whether they’re at home, in the office, or on the go.

Cortex XDR endpoint security delivers protection across the organization with AI-driven prevention and detection that analyzes data from any source to stop sophisticated attacks. Gilligan says, “We conduct penetration testing regularly, but there’s no anxiety among the team as they have confidence that all threats will be detected and resolved in a timely manner.”

Saved NZ$400K

“The solution paid for itself in 6 months when we removed managed network services. We’ve saved at least NZ$400,000 over 6 years; for an SMB, that’s substantial. Not only that, but the network is much faster,” says Gilligan. The Council achieved savings through the operational costs, automation, improved troubleshooting, and network throughput.

Delivered 99.99% availability of OT network devices

The Council uses the firewalls to support the remote sites and provide highly resilient 4G, fiber, or Starlink access. This creates an OT network with 99.99% uptime in challenging remote locations, including uninterrupted monitoring of water sites for nonstop operation.

Reduced IT team’s time for security to just 5%

Staff can work smarter and faster now, delivering agile public services that increase constituent satisfaction. For example, staff can now monitor and take advantage of greater network bandwidth. Security commands just 5% of the team’s time, freeing resources to focus on local government policy, audits, and other tasks. Tight integration enables the team to manage security and SD-WAN on a single, intuitive interface—not a patchwork of fragmented monitoring devices.

Reduced time to detect and respond to near real time

If an endpoint is attacked, the Council can respond at lightning speed. A complete picture of each attack, including one-click root cause analysis, enables the team to swiftly stop attacks anywhere in the environment.

Gilligan says, “The New Zealand time zone means we’re often the first country to see a new threat. Cortex XDR uses machine learning to profile behavior and instantly detect anomalies indicative of an attack.”

Both the Council and Theta have complete confidence that Palo Alto Networks is the right solution currently and in the future. “Theta’s security expertise and experience led us on an affordable, right-sized security transformation journey with Palo Alto Networks, which has been an absolute game changer,” shares Gilligan.

Theta’s van Lieshout concurs, “Palo Alto Networks solutions are best in class. We’re committed to partnering with Palo Alto Networks and our customers alike, as the cybersecurity leader is constantly on the cusp of innovation.”