Southwestern College Bolsters Security with BIO-key’s PortalGuard
Over the last few years, higher education institutions have faced more cyberattacks than any other industry. The most prevalent form of attack disproportionately targeting higher education is ransomware attacks– also referred to as Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks (DDoS). Why are colleges and universities highly susceptible to credential exploitation-based attacks? The answer lies in the predominant approach of the higher education industry to cybersecurity: reactive rather than proactive.
Unfortunately, higher education institutions are a prime target for cyberattacks due to their concentrated databases of sensitive information and intellectual property. Tight IT budgets, however, make it challenging to obtain enterprise-level security. For this reason, BIO-key International has partnered with CollegeBuys and is working to employ a proactive cybersecurity approach that is attainable for colleges and universities.
Mark Cochran, President of BIO-key’s PortalGuard division, has elaborated on this opportunity, declaring, “Higher education must enhance its cybersecurity measures. The rapid adoption of cloud technology to support remote learning, students’ increasing expectations for a modern online experience, and the persistent threat of traditional authentication methods being hacked create a perfect storm of cyber risk for institutions. We are excited to assist higher education IT professionals in evolving their cyber strategies with our industry expertise and tailored IAM solutions.”
Southwestern Community College District’s Path to Seamless SSO and Robust Security
When Southwestern College began searching for an Identity and Access Management solution, streamlining Single Sign-On (SSO) across its 30,000 users and varied applications was a top priority. Over 12 different applications, including SharePoint, Blackboard, Canvas, and OpenCCCApply, required SSO, so the college needed a versatile platform to unify access.
By implementing PortalGuard from BIO-key, Southwestern College was able to address these challenges and enhance its overall security posture. PortalGuard’s platform provided seamless SSO integration across critical applications, enabling a streamlined login experience for users.
“Since we implemented PortalGuard, our Single Sign-On implementation could not have been easier, and we have integrated it with SharePoint, Blackboard, Canvas, OWA, and WebAdvisor. The product is simple to configure and maintain, providing us with the comprehensive security controls we need” enthused Clifford Sharp, Network Security System Analyst at Southwestern Community College.
Beyond SSO, PortalGuard also gave Southwestern College the required comprehensive security controls, including MFA, self-service password reset (SSPR), and advanced identity access management (IAM) analytics. This helped the IT team combat the rising tide of credential-based attacks targeting the higher education sector. By implementing a robust and easy-to-use IAM platform, the Southwestern Community College District has advanced towards a proactive security approach.
If you are interested in learning more about leveraging the FoundationCCC’s agreement with BIO-key International, please contact cbcontracts@foundationccc.org.
