Enhancing Security Operations with DEFEND iCE for the Tertiary Education Commission

Best in class security improvements focussing on continuous monitoring and incident response.

VISION

The Tertiary Education Commission Te Amorangi Mātauranga Matua is a Crown agency that leads the government’s relationship with the tertiary education sector, invests government funding in tertiary education organisations and provides career services from education to employment.

Their vision was to work in partnership with a specialist cybersecurity company to deliver managed security services with an emphasis on continuous monitoring and incident response.

OUR APPROACH

DEFEND iCE (intelligent Cybersecurity Ecosystem) is an award-winning managed Security Operations service that provides a modular ecosystem which embeds, complements and strengthens existing capability. It delivers real-time monitoring, correlation and expert analysis of potential malicious activity in a customer’s environment by detecting and alerting on valid threats.

We began with korero workshop sessions to understand and document key business drivers, areas of importance and business context. Through these sessions, we were able to identify the alignment to the NIST framework and initial core components required:

• Visibility of security threats
• Detection of and response to security events
• Ongoing assurance and improvement of implemented security controls

By working in partnership, DEFEND were able to showcase our hybrid approach to delivering Security Operations. This enabled Tertiary Education Commission to leverage existing security investments, gain visibility and insights into their environment while also delivering improvement initiatives against existing security controls.

By working alongside Tertiary Education Commission, we were able to demonstrate a reduction of cost over time while increasing the organisation’s overall cyber resilience. DEFEND iCE continues to deliver best in class Security Operations for Tertiary Education Commission and we have recently partnered to shape joint guidance to the tertiary sector who may be considering adopting a Security Operations managed service.

TERTIARY EDUCATION COMMISSION’S OUTCOME

By leveraging DEFEND iCE, the Tertiary Education Commission have maximised their existing investments, increased visibility and have the ongoing assurance they require.

By working together, we have delivered operational success and have been able to provide SOC/SIEM guidance to the tertiary sector that unravels complexity with proven success across both the Tertiary Education Commission and Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.