Overview
Northside Christian College is a Prep to Year 12 College set in a tertiary education precinct in the City of Whittlesea in Bundoora, Victoria. Business Manager, Mr Leigh Adcock, says “Because technology is so inherent to the running of our school, we needed a benchmark for our cybersecurity level to help us ascertain how effective it was as compared to larger schools.”
Business Challenges
Mr Adcock believes in technology as an enabling tool, that students can harness in primary and secondary school as well as in higher education, benefitting their lives in the 21st century. After meeting members of the NetStrategy team, Mr Adcock decided it was essential to test the school’s cybersecurity defences against their higher standards of security. Knowing that many schools are targeted by cybercrime, Mr Adcock said, “Our data is the foundation of our business, so protecting it is paramount.” He details that when the College approached NetStrategy, the aim was “for highly experienced professionals to stress test our IT system processes and architecture to ensure we were properly safeguarded.”
The Solution – Strategic ICT Review
“These solutions will enable us to better defend and protect ourselves in a landscape of changing cyber threats.”
NetStrategy’s Strategic ICT Review ensured that Northside Christian College’s cybersecurity controls were effective and sufficient, by identifying areas of weakness and opportunities to proactively improve the safeguarding of systems. The review process yielded a comprehensive report, which included the need to refresh certain parts of the school’s cybersecurity posture, including changes for their backups, firewalls, patching and authentication controls.
The diagnostic analysis convinced the college of the need to further invest in modern cybersecurity and better curate third party offerings to stay ahead of the ever-progressing technological environment. Speaking about the review’s findings and recommendations, Mr Adcock said, “These solutions will enable us to better defend and protect ourselves in a landscape of changing cyber threats.”
Benefits
Northside Christian College has begun strategically implementing the recommendations included in the Strategic ICT Review. The College has already commenced further investments in their cybersecurity framework, with plans made to upgrade hardware including their Wi-Fi and firewall capabilities in 2024. They have also acquired new Network Attached Servers, to better manage backup and data flows. During the process, the College made the decision to increase IT staff FTE to safeguard itself from the inside out. Mr Adcock reports that the College greatly benfitted from time spent with the NetStrategy team, dialoging scenarios and strategically planning the shape of the school’s cyber footprint going into their next operating phase. Based on NetStrategy’s recommendations, the College invested in new hardware to realign and redeploy their existing system architecture, allowing them to better protect themselves against known vulnerabilities within the education industry.
Partnering with NetStrategy
As a specialist in the IT and cybersecurity industry, NetStrategy has 35 years of experience in the field. We’ve partnered with nearly 400 of Australia’s leading educational institutions, offering in-depth strategic ICT reviews that yield a solid understanding of an institution’s cybersecurity level, as well as a comprehensive and strategic protection plan to mitigate any potential risk.
Our recommendations take an institution’s IT budget into account, applying it effectively to address any inefficiencies. Explore our Audit and Advisory Services, or contact NetStrategy today to ensure your school is properly protected today, and well into the future.
