Seneca Polytechnic
Focuses on security excellence to protect data
OVERVIEW
Easy access to information is the lifeblood of the world’s colleges and universities. At Seneca Polytechnic, one of the largest institutions in Ontario by student population, the IT security team must ensure that over 30,000 students and employees always have access to information 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, the college relies on advanced data centre protection combined with advanced threat detection solutions from Trend Micro.
The intelligence built into Trend solutions tells my team what is critical so we can focus on the really important alerts and make sure that our environment is safe and secure.
Joseph Lee
Associate Director, IT Security, Privacy and Compliance, Seneca Polytechnic
Industry
Higher Education, College
Employees
4,300+
Region
Canada, North America
IT Environment
Microsoft
Solutions
- Allows Seneca's small IT team to uphold robust security posture
- Balances the bring-your-own-device needs of faculty and students with world-class security
- Employs automated alerts and prioritisation to help the security team focus on top issues
CHALLENGES
“As a higher education institution, we have to allow students and employees to use their own devices,” says, Associate Director of IT Security, Privacy and Compliance at Seneca, Joseph Lee. “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 their small team, Seneca must be able to prioritise alerts with the right tools in place. “The Trend Micro™ Deep Discovery™ Inspector and Trend Micro™ Deep Security™ solutions give us what we need to be effective in our security,” adds Lee.
Trend’s solutions have the latest and greatest threat intelligence built in, so whenever a new attack comes out, we know we will be protected against it.
Joseph Lee
Associate Director, IT Security, Privacy and Compliance, Seneca Polytechnic
WHY TREND
Since becoming a customer in 2015, Seneca has regarded Trend’s top-tier security solutions and unparalleled customer support as crucial to their success. “People do make a difference,” says Chief Information Officer and Vice-President of Customer Service at Seneca Polytechnic, Radha Krishnan. “Our security team has a level of comfort with Trend that they don’t see with other vendors.”
The Trend solutions give 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 Analyser, Deep Discovery Inspector, and Trend Micro Deep Security, Seneca’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 Trend Micro Deep Security virtual patching feature, which protects the data centre from attacks before patches are applied. “Trend’s focus on ongoing product innovations is crucial to Seneca’s security. Deep Discovery Inspector and Trend Micro Deep Security 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, Trend Micro Deep Security immediately generated an alert and the data centre team was on it—defeating the purpose of the simulation but reassuring us that Trend Micro Deep Security really does protect us,” says Lee.
Thanks to Trend, Seneca maintains a robust security posture, even with a lean security team. “Trend has done the heavy lifting for us,” Lee says. “Our Trend solutions prioritise the findings for us so we can focus on other security issues.”
WHAT'S NEXT
While Seneca Polytechnic is currently shifting many of their resources to the cloud, with their email solution and learning management platform already cloud-based, they’re also considering moving their enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to the cloud. “Making sure those resources are well protected while they’re in the cloud is next on our list to achieve,” concludes Lee.
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