OVERVIEW

Easy access to information is the lifeblood of the world’s colleges and universities. At Seneca Polytechnic, which has one of the largest student populations in Ontario, the IT security team must ensure that more than 30,000 students and employees have access to this information at all times from any device. The team also protects the personal data and intellectual property that resides in Seneca’s data center and travels across their network. To keep Seneca secure and information available, Seneca relies on advanced data center protection combined with advanced threat detection solutions from Trend Micro.

CHALLENGES

“As a higher education institution, we have to allow students and employees to use their own devices,” says Joseph Lee, associate director, IT security, privacy and compliance, Seneca Polytechnic. “We don’t have control over those devices, so they could be leveraged by hackers. My biggest challenge is to make sure I have appropriate measures in place to detect threats and prevent issues.”

“To maintain a proper security posture with my small team, we must be able to prioritize alerts with the right tools in place. The Trend Vision One™ – Deep Discovery™ Inspector and Trend Micro™ Deep Security™ Software solutions give us what we need to be effective in our security.”

WHY TREND

A Trend customer since 2015, Seneca considers Trend high-caliber security solutions and unmatched customer support key to their success. “People do make a difference,” says Radha Krishnan, chief information officer and vice-president, customer service, Seneca Polytechnic. “Our security team has a level of comfort with Trend that they don’t see with other vendors.”

This gives the team the confidence to run efficiently and effectively. “We rely on the Trend solutions a lot. The intelligence built into the solutions tell my team what is critical so we can focus on the really important alerts and make sure that our environment is safe and secure.”

SOLUTION

With Deep Discovery Inspector, Trend Micro™ Deep Discovery™ Analyzer, and Deep Security Software, Seneca Polytechnic’s IT security team has everything they need to stay on top of potential threats. “One of my team’s first tasks every day is to look at Deep Discovery Inspector findings to see what they need to pay attention to,” says Lee.

The IT security team highly appreciates the Deep Security Software virtual patching feature, which protects the data center from attacks before patches are applied. “Trend’s focus on ongoing product innovations is crucial to Seneca’s security. Deep Discovery Inspector and Deep Security Software have the latest and greatest threat intelligence built in, so whenever a new attack comes out, we know we will be protected against it,” he says.

RESULTS

Lee recalls many experiences in which Trend security demonstrated its value. In one instance, Trend solutions quickly alerted the team about a server that was being used for Bitcoin mining. Another time, a ransomware simulation exercise generated an unexpected result. “On the night we planted the simulation, Deep Security Software immediately generated an alert, and the data center team was on it—defeating the purpose of the simulation but reassuring us that Deep Security Software really does protect us,” says Lee.

Thanks to Trend, Seneca Polytechnic maintains a robust security posture, even with a lean security team. “Trend has done the heavy lifting for us,” Lee says. “Our Trend solutions prioritize the findings for us so we can focus on other security issues.”

WHAT'S NEXT

“We’re moving a lot of our resources into the cloud right now,” says Lee. “Our email solution is in the cloud, along with our learning management platform, and we’re looking at moving our ERP system to the cloud as well. Making sure those resources are well protected while they’re in the cloud is next on our list to achieve.”