Open Networks
Academic networks are open by design, making them harder to secure than corporate networks.
SECURITY OPERATIONS CENTER (SOC)
24x7 Threat Protection
Around-the-clock detection, investigation, and response services designed to protect higher education and medical universities against evolving cyber threats.
CHALLENGE
Evolving Threat Landscape
Higher education institutions and medical universities face significant pressure to keep their campus communities safe and secure from cyberattacks and data breaches. Beyond just meeting government compliance and regulatory requirements, they need 24x7x365 coverage that often can’t be delivered on campus due to resource and skill constraints. Add to that the plethora of raw data that needs to be ingested and monitored from sources including Active Directory, firewalls, network devices and endpoints, on-premises and cloud platforms, and many more, with the list expanding every day as individual departments add systems, SaaS platforms, and resources.
Making all this work with fixed budgets and resources is increasingly difficult as the pace of cybersecurity threats, regulatory requirements, and complexity grows rapidly. At the same time, the impact of cybersecurity incidents is real and extends beyond merely disrupting the campus learning environment. Higher Education data breaches are estimated to cost $3.86 million per incident, with the risk of data breaches increasing exponentially as AI-powered threats emerge.
Common Security Concerns Facing Institutional Leaders
System Sprawl
Academic and research systems, departmental servers, and cloud tools often sit outside central IT, creating gaps no one is watching.
Continuous Reporting
HIPAA, GLBA, and GDPR all require continuous monitoring evidence, and an annual review does not satisfy any of them.
Skills Gap & Coverage
A genuine 24x7 security team requires dedicated people before a single tool is purchased. Most institutions cannot staff that.
Real-time Reaction
Evolving threats and the speed at which they spread require near-real-time threat identification and mitigation.
Evolving Threats
Ransomware, phishing, credential theft, account takeover, AI attacks, and third-party compromises increase the risks facing IT Departments.
SOLUTIONS FEATURES
On-Demand Real-Time Decision Support
The OculusIT Security Operations Center (SOC) powered by Seceon delivers 24x7 threat detection, investigation, and response services designed to protect higher education and medical university environments against evolving cyber threats. Operating from the same unified Command Center as our Network Operations Center (NOC), the SOC provides integrated security visibility across network, endpoint, identity, cloud, and application layers.
The SOC leverages the speed and power of Seceon’s AI to process massive amounts of raw data from multiple sources, including M365, Entra ID, administrative systems, firewalls, network devices, endpoint detection and response (EDR), and cloud systems, providing actionable intelligence at speed. By correlating data from different sources in real time and leveraging AI, we dramatically decrease the time to process, analyze, present, and respond to cybersecurity threats.
In addition, our SOC does not rely on static rules or signatures; instead, it uses behavioral analytics and dynamic threat models, correlating data from a variety of sources to reduce alert fatigue and the overwhelming number of false positives SOC teams deal with daily, improving overall efficiency. With the Oversight of our SOC professionals, the system can isolate endpoints, block malicious IP Addresses, disable compromised accounts, and launch a series of playbooks designed to contain and remediate potential compromises as and before they occur. This moves our 24x7 SOC from reactive to a proactive team attacking the bad actors.
Operational Dashboards
Monitor M365, Entra ID, and administrative systems in real time from a single dashboard.
Executive Dashboards
Configurable dashboards to highlight the most important cybersecurity views based on real-time data.
Multipoint Detection
Detect insider threats and credential abuse with UEBA: after-hours record access, bulk downloads, and impossible travel.
Containment
Contain threats automatically via SOAR playbooks: isolate endpoints, disable accounts within the scope you define.
Auditability
Produce audit-ready HIPAA, GLBA, and GDPR evidence packages in the format your auditor and insurer require.
Proactivity
Turn a normal reactive process into a real-time proactive attack against bad actors attempting to compromise systems.
Quicker Reaction Times
The time it takes to respond to compromised credentials or systems is reduced from hours to minutes and even seconds.
Alert Fatigue
Behavioral analytics and dynamic threat models correlate data from multiple sources to reduce alert fatigue and false positives SOC teams face daily.
Frequently asked questions
What is Seceon and what does it do for OculutIT?
Seceon is an AI-first platform that ingests and correlates telemetry (raw data) from Active Directory, Identity Management Systems, Firewalls, Network devices, Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), and Cloud Services into a single platform. Instead of relying on signatures and static rules, the system uses AI/ML-based behavioral analytics to perform automated threat containment, execute Incident Response playbooks, and provide enhanced, actionable intelligence to SOC Analysts to proactively stop compromises and reduce time to respond.
How does this help the OculusIT SOC?
By providing actionable intelligence to SOC analysts, it speeds response time and assists with investigations. Identified compromises will automatically be contained and, if possible, remediated. It also aids in the execution of more complex Incident Response Playbooks, thereby reducing containment time once a compromise has been identified.
What does this do for me?
With the OculusIT Security Operations Center (SOC) powered by Seceon, you get 24x7 automated threat blocking, containment, and remediated. More complex compromises have Incident Response Playbooks automatically executed to shorten the amount of time it takes from Identification, Containment, and Remediation.
Why is this important to my higher education institution or university health system?
Our world is one where bad actors are using AI to attack your institution at a higher rate of sophistication and speed; we provide a defense comprised of an AI-first platform to ingest, correlate, and provide actionable intelligence to SOC Analysts with the benefit of using behavioral data correlation and automated Incident Response Runbook execution to attack the attacker. The whole process is backed by a 24x7 human-run SOC that manages operations, conducts investigations, and escalates when appropriate. The SOC is not just isolated in their compartmentalized world; as appropriate, they engage your school’s Project Manager, Technical Specialists (Subject Matter Experts), and Cybersecurity Analysts. Their reach does not stop there; anyone on an investigation team will reach out to your school’s CISO and CIO as the need arises.