# How the City of Kenosha Transitioned to Zero Trust

- Link: https://www.agilicus.com/case-study/building-a-cyber-resilient-municipality-how-the-city-of-kenosha-transitioned-to-zero-trust/
- Published: 2023-05-24T14:35:00+00:00
- Author: Drew Armstrong

Building a Cyber-Resilient Municipality

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## How the City of Kenosha Transitioned to Zero Trust

The City of Kenosha, Wisconsin, faced cybersecurity challenges with traditional 
VPNs for remote access and vendor management. They turned to Agilicus and its Zero
Trust platform, Agilicus AnyX, to adhere to the EPA’s 2023 cybersecurity recommendations.
This transition resulted in robust multi-factor authentication, secure vendor access,
accountability through audit trails, and improved network visibility.

Kenosha’s experience highlights the transformative power of Zero Trust solutions
for municipalities, enhancing cyber security, remote access, and aligning with EPA
recommendations. This proactive approach secures the municipality’s future against
evolving cyber threats and emphasizes the benefits of a Zero Trust environment as
a VPN alternative.

See also “[Midland Texas Transforms Water Purification Cyber Security With Agilicus AnyX](https://www.agilicus.com/case-studies/midland-texas-transforms-water-purification-cyber-security/)“

### Read MORE

Building a Cyber-Resilient Municipality

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## How the City of Kenosha Transitioned to Zero Trust

### Executive Summary

![City of Kenosha Zero Trust Security Transformation: Agilicus Case Study - Learn
how Kenosha improved cyber resilience and citizen services with a Zero Trust architecture.](
https://www.agilicus.com/www/9fb9c3d2-image.png)

The City of Kenosha, Wisconsin, is a forward-thinking municipality that faced significant
cybersecurity challenges due to its reliance on traditional VPN environments for
remote access and vendor management. With increasing vulnerabilities and limited
network visibility, the city recognized the need for a stronger, more resilient 
approach that wouldn’t disrupt its crucial municipal operations.

Agilicus, a leader in Zero Trust cyber security, was brought in to present a solution.
After implementing their platform, Agilicus AnyX, the City of Kenosha was able to
seamlessly transition to a Zero Trust environment, adhering to the best practices
outlined in the [EPA 2023 cyber security memorandum](https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-takes-action-improve-cybersecurity-resilience-public-water-systems).

The city achieved several key outcomes in the process, including enforcing robust
multi-factor authentication for legacy systems and unmanaged users, enabling secure
and granular vendor access, gaining a full audit trail for accountability, and heightening
network visibility. With Agilicus AnyX, the city significantly improved its cybersecurity
posture, ensured secure remote access, and successfully protected its critical infrastructure.

The City of Kenosha’s journey with Agilicus illustrates the transformative potential
of Zero Trust solutions. Their success demonstrates how municipalities can enhance
their cybersecurity efforts, boost remote access capabilities, and align with EPA
recommendations. 

Kenosha’s efforts underscore the importance of proactive action in securing a municipality’s
future against evolving cyber threats and the remarkable benefits of transitioning
to a Zero Trustenvironment.

See also Case study: “[Midland Texas Transforms Water Purification Cyber Security With Agilicus AnyX](https://www.agilicus.com/case-studies/midland-texas-transforms-water-purification-cyber-security/)“

### Key Results

[⌊user-onboarding⌉⌊user-onboarding⌉[

**Ensured Simple, Secure Vendor Access**

[⌊fast-deployment⌉⌊fast-deployment⌉[

**Deployed in Under One Hour**

[⌊parallel-implementation⌉⌊parallel-implementation⌉[

**Improved Service Delivery**

[⌊seamless⌉⌊seamless⌉[

**Seamlessly Shifted to a Zero Trust Architecture**

[⌊friction-free-user⌉⌊friction-free-user⌉[

**Aligned with the EPA 2023 Cybersecurity Memorandum**

### Customer Profile

![City of Kenosha](https://www.agilicus.com/www/be6121eb-city-of-kenosha-logo.webp)

The City of Kenosha, Wisconsin, is a municipality nestled on the shores of Lake 
Michigan in the United States. As the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin, it serves
approximately 100,000 residents through a variety of essential services. Kenosha
employs hundreds of dedicated professionals across several departments, who work
tirelessly to enhance the quality of life for its residents, businesses, and visitors.
In recent years, the city and surrounding county have benefited from increased job
and population growth. 

### The Cybersecurity Hurdles

The City of Kenosha wanted to proactively enhance its cyber security efforts, particularly
in the context of remote access and vendor management. They relied heavily on a 
traditional VPN environment, which introduced vulnerabilities and exposed their 
network to potential cyber threats. Knowing this, the City of Kenosha was looking
for a solution to transition its water and wastewater networks (particularly the
Water SCADA and Water Business networks) to a Zero Trust environment to protect 
its critical infrastructure and the growing community it served. Doing so would 
also allow them to align with new best practices, notably the recent EPA cyber security
memorandum.

This was a challenge, however, as the municipality depended on its existing VPN 
environment to maintain operations, and the network was accessed daily by a diverse
workforce of internal and external users. But its existing VPN didn’t support multi-
factor authentication, leaving the city vulnerable to the increased risk of unauthorized
access to its water systems and other critical infrastructure.

![City of Kenosha Water Treatment Plant protected by Agilicus Zero Trust security,
ensuring cyber resilience for critical infrastructure. Illustrates a modern water
purification facility with secure network access, preventing cyberattacks and safeguarding
essential services.](https://www.agilicus.com/www/02f6aab1-water-treatment-plant.
svg)

At the same time, the city also needed its third-party vendors to continue to be
able to access critical systems to maintain service delivery. In their efforts to
do so, the City of Kenosha had allowed vendors to connect to their network through
VPNs. While this provided remote access, it also created a security risk. Vendors
with VPN access had broad network privileges, which could potentially lead to lateral
traversal within the network. This meant that if a vendor’s credentials were compromised,
an attacker could move laterally across the network, accessing sensitive resources
and causing significant damage. Access controls were also needed as these vendors
often needed access to legacy technology through Secure Socket Shell (SSH) or web
applications hosted internally. How the City of Kenosha Transitioned to Zero Trust

![smart-city-web-application](https://www.agilicus.com/www/be80b18b-web-app-case-
study-1-01.svg)

Moreover, the City encountered challenges in managing and securing connections from
unmanaged devices. Without proper controls in place, unmanaged devices connecting
to the network lacked essential security measures such as up-to-date antivirus software.
This posed a serious risk, as these devices could potentially introduce malware 
or other malicious elements to the network, compromising the security and integrity
of the City’s systems.

Another key issue the City faced was a lack of visibility into its network. They
had limited insights into network traffic, user activity, and potential security
incidents. This lack of visibility made it difficult to identify and respond to 
potential threats promptly. The City needed a solution that could provide comprehensive
visibility, enabling proactive threat detection and response.

Recognizing the need for a more secure and resilient approach, the City of Kenosha
sought a solution that would address these vulnerabilities and provide robust remote
access management. They were determined to implement a solution that would mitigate
the risks associated with broad VPN access, secure connections from unmanaged devices,
and enhance visibility into their network, all without any disruption to their municipal
operations. How the City of Kenosha Transitioned to Zero Trust

### Executing the Strategy

Agilicus, a trusted leader in Zero Trust cybersecurity, was chosen by the City of
Kenosha to help meet these challenges. 

After a successful two-week proof of concept, which was deployed in less than an
hour, the city proceeded with an organization-wide rollout. Agilicus AnyX was implemented
across all City of Kenosha servers, offering a seamless transition with zero network
changes required. Recognizing that business operations couldn’t be disrupted, Agilicus
initially ran parallel to the existing VPN, allowing the city to migrate users over
at their own pace without any downtime.

**As a result, Kenosha was able to: **

![federated-identity](https://www.agilicus.com/www/6d53c670-cybersecurity-federatedidentity.
svg)

### Enforce **multi-factor authentication**  

on both legacy technologies as well as unmanaged users

![secure-remote-desktop-access](https://www.agilicus.com/www/aa9ed1f8-identity-access_rdp.
svg)

### Provide **seamless remote access** 

for both internal and external users without disrupting operations

![cybersecurity-no-vpn](https://www.agilicus.com/www/d6a6a521-cybersecurity-icons_1novpn.
svg)

### Benefit from a **complete audit trail** 

of who did what, when, and for how long to have evidence for any discrepancies with
remote access and what was done on the network

![role-based-access-controls](https://www.agilicus.com/www/e2df019c-pam-action-plan-
icons_privilege-role-based-access-controls.svg)

### Centralize **vendor access**

and automate how permissions are managed, approved, and removed

### Zero Trust: A Winning Solution

Agilicus AnyX proved to be the ideal solution for the City of Kenosha. With its 
Zero Trust Architecture, Agilicus was able to provide a secure alternative to the
traditional VPN approach. Access was granted based on stringent authentication and
authorization principles, regardless of location or device. How the City of Kenosha
Transitioned to Zero Trust.

The implementation of Agilicus’ solution allowed the City of Kenosha to significantly
improve its remote access security. By successfully implementing a Zero Trust architecture,
the city eliminated the risks associated with lateral traversal entirely. Vendors
and remote users were able to connect to the network through secure and granular
access controls, ensuring they only had access to the resources they required to
perform their work.

Additionally, Agilicus AnyX enabled the City to enforce strong security measures
on unmanaged devices. With contextual access control, the city could evaluate the
security posture of each connecting device, ensuring that proper controls and other
security measures were in place before granting access. This effectively reduced
the risk of malware being introduced and enhanced the overall security of the network.

Finally, Agilicus provided the City of Kenosha with comprehensive visibility into
its network. Detailed audit logs and real-time monitoring capabilities allowed the
City to gain insights into network traffic, user activity, and potential security
incidents. This heightened visibility empowered the city’s IT team to detect and
respond to threats proactively, further minimizing the impact of potential cybersecurity
incidents.

By transitioning to Agilicus AnyX, the City of Kenosha not only addressed its previous
vulnerabilities but also established a robust and resilient cyber security framework.
The solution enabled them to protect critical infrastructure, secure remote access,
and enhance their overall cyber security posture. With a Zero Trust Architecture
approach in place, the municipality can confidently manage vendor access, secure
connections from unmanaged devices, and maintain visibility and control over their
network.

### Results and Reflections

The implementation of Agilicus AnyX was transformative for the City of Kenosha. 
With the transition to a Zero Trust Architecture, the city has seen a significant
reduction in security vulnerabilities. And the ability to manage vendor access more
efficiently has resulted in streamlined workflows and improved service delivery.

Meanwhile, the introduction of multi-factor authentication for internal and external
staff connecting to legacy systems enhanced the overall security profile of the 
city’s digital infrastructure.

Finally, the city is also now more confidently aligned with public sector requirements
and best practices, such as the EPA cybersecurity memorandum. This further solidifies
the municipality as a cybersecurity leader and innovator.

**“We chose Agilicus for their ability to deliver on their promise of a secure, 
scalable, and user-friendly Zero Trust solution. Their product has revolutionized
how we approach cybersecurity, offering us peace of mind and a firm foundation for
future developments. We couldn’t be happier with our decision and the transformative
results we’ve seen.”**

**Tig Kerkman**

Director of Information Technology, City of Kenosha

The City of Kenosha’s experience with Agilicus demonstrates how municipalities can
effectively leverage Zero-Trust solutions to strengthen their cybersecurity efforts,
improve their remote access capabilities, and meet increasingly stringent compliance
regulations and best practices.

Do you have questions or want to learn more about Agilicus AnyX? Get in touch with
our team to learn more about how our Zero Trust platform can transform your municipal
operations for the better and safeguard your critical infrastructure from cyber 
threats.

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any resource they need—without a client or VPN. Whether that resource is a web application,
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it with multi-factor authentication while keeping the user experience simple with
single sign-on.

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[⌊partner⌉⌊partner⌉[