Rapid7

Managing Security Challenges in Higher Education

Colleges and universities have a unique combination of security challenges that go far beyond providing strictly educational services. Institutions of higher education can operate as communities-within-a-community, providing many of the services typically found within a city including housing, retail, medical, and financial services, making them subject to meeting regulatory compliance requirements such as PCI, HIPAA/HITECH, and GLBA. Security professionals servicing institutions of higher education often find themselves attempting to satisfy the conflicting demands of staff, faculty and a transient student community. The same security operations staff that are asked to police and maintain closed corporate network in the administrative offices may also be responsible for trying to provide Internet Security Provider (ISP) when accommodating the needs of students and faculty to work together. Even if the technical tools are available, colleges and universities are often faced with budgetary constraints that can make security feel like it is still out of reach. What kinds of creative solutions are organizations using to work around budgetary constraints, manage risk, and raise awareness among staff, students and faculty?

Rapid7, in conjunction with organizations at the forefront of the topic, are hosting a virtual roundtable. Panelists for the round table include:

• Randy Marchany - Information Technology Security Officer and Director of IT Security Lab, Virginia Tech
• Paul Lepkowski, CISSP, GIAC-GPEN - Enterprise Information Security Lead Engineer & Staff Council Representative, Rochester Institute of Technology
• Chris Walcutt, CISSP, PMG - Manager, Information Security Deployment, SunGard Higher Education Technology Management Services