Solace Cyber secures a leading UK university

Universities can be an easy target for cyber criminals, due to the vast number of end points from students and staff, coupled with the high level of cyber threats faced on a daily basis. A leading UK university with nearly 10,000 students and over 100 members of staff came to Solace Cyber with a challenge: How do you improve cyber security measures with a limited budget?

It can be overwhelming for an organisation when starting from scratch to know where to place their budget for cyber security. Through tried and tested strategies, Solace Cyber were able to create a tailored strategy which advanced the universities cyber security by providing full visibility over their students and their activities – making what was once their biggest concern, now part of their cyber security stronghold.

A full cyber security risk assessment  highlighted any areas which could be deemed a cyber risk and created a schedule of priorities which needed attention first. From here the anti-virus was replaced with an intelligent Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) platform as well as Security Information and Event Management which provided 24/7/365 visibility to continually monitor events and evolve with the cyber threats that attempted to compromise their cyber security.

Once full visibility of the cyber risks with the university had been obtained, a phishing risk reduction strategy was implemented to harden the security of the mail flows and email systems to reduce the number of phishing emails. Simulated phishing emails were also sent to staff and students to test who, if anyone, clicked on a malicious link, when, how many times and from which device. Full training was given to those which did not pass the simulation.

Back-ups which previously on the premises were moved into the cloud, which means if a cyber threat should infiltrate the university, there is a greater chance of a fast and full recovery of any data breaches.

University’s are in a position where reputation is important and should a data security breach ever occur, it can take a significant length of time to rebuild the trust of students. Despite this, cyber security for universities is often be overlooked or can be a lower priority for investment.

By outsourcing cyber security to a managed security service provider, we provide enterprise-grade cyber security at a fraction of the cost of hiring a CISO and create a culture for cyber attentiveness. The next steps for the university to increase their cyber security further is to implement a Security Orchestration Automation Response (SOAR) solution into their business to make their cyber security budget to become even more efficient over time.

Build your cyber security defences with our team of senior cyber security analysts.