CUSTOMER CASE STUDY SHORE

Sophos goes above andbeyond to protect Shore
against escalating
cyber-attacks
Shore, also known as Sydney Church of England Grammar School, is acomprehensive independent boy’s school located in North Sydney. The school
welcomes girls and boys from its Early Learning Centre until Year 2 and thenboys from Years 3 to 12. Shore aims to provide students with broad andin-depth courses of learning and opens up a range of pathways for theirfutures.

CUSTOMER-AT-A-GLANCE
Shore
Industry
Education
Website:www.shore.nsw.edu.au

Number of users
1700 students
300 staff members
1400 student mailboxes
to be protected
Sophos Customer
more than 10 years

Sophos Solutions
Sophos Endpoint
Sophos Firewall
Sophos Central
Sophos MDR

CUSTOMER CASE STUDY SHORE“When you need to deep dive, the platform is
intuitive and comprehensive. We can follow
our noses and get the right info confidently.
This became a huge time-saver and quickly
answers any concern that we might have.“
Richard Jones, ICT Manager at Shore

Why is cybersecurity key toprotecting students’ mostvaluable data?
Schools are among the most vulnerable
institutions to cyberattacks. The Office of theAustralian Information Commissioner ranks theeducation sector in the top five most breachedindustries in Australia. Schools are prime
targets for cybercriminals as they hold a hugeamount of data, endpoints and users acrossthe environment, including students, staff andparents. This creates a very rewarding andaccessible environment for cybercriminals.
According to Sophos’ State of Ransomware
Report the education industry sees much higher
encryption rates during ransomware attacks,
with data being encrypted in 73 percent ofattacks, compared to an average of 65 percent
across all industries.

The education sector also continues to suffer morethan any other industry when recovering fromransomware attacks. Despite institutions paying theransom 99 percent of the time, only two percent will
recover all their data when doing so. Furthermore,
as recovery time for the education industry is
the longest of all sectors, a holistic cybersecurity
strategy that includes detection and recovery
becomes a vital part of operations.
Schools hold confidential student records likecontact details and sensitive data, makingcybersecurity a necessity to protect the privacy ofstudents and their families.

How can you protect against
sophisticated cyberattacks?
Shore regularly reviews available cybersecurity
solutions, seeking new tools and services to update
its cybersecurity infrastructure.
“It’s a fast-moving space, you really have to bereviewing what vendors can offer on a regularbasis,” said Richard Jones, ICT Manager at Shore.
Although Shore was previously only using Sophos
Endpoint, a significant industry incident led Shore
to take on a more holistic approach with the schoolimplementing Sophos Firewall and Sophos Central
to bolster its defences. Sophos’ combination ofcapability, return on investment and maturity
enticed Shore to build on the existing relationship.
In 2021, Shore was one of more than 200 global
businesses and MSPs which fell victim to asignificant encryption event. Thankfully, due toCUSTOMER CASE STUDY SHORE“Sophos Central is intuitive and gives logicalnext steps during the containment and recovery
processes. It means you stay well informedand feel supported throughout the ordeal.“
Richard Jones, ICT Manager at Shore

Sophos’ solutions and proactivity, the impact wasmanageable. Sophos Firewall and Intercept-X
proactively detected the attack and prevented
serious harm, as Sophos was able to quickly
contain the outbreak and help Shore recoverquickly. The work of Sophos’ Rapid Response
team prevented the attack from having a much
more significant impact.
While Sophos’ solutions effectively and quickly
addressed the ransomware attack, it was
Sophos’ proactivity in alerting Shore that stoodout to Jones, “A part of what Sophos did for
us was to actually make us aware of the issue
in the first place. My account manager calledme personally.” Even though Shore had not
implemented Sophos’ Managed Detection andResponse (MDR) solution, the school was still
notified of and protected from the attack.

“Through it’s early warning system, Sophos
proactively reaches out to any customer where it
sees suspicious activity on the customer’s network,
even those who aren’t MDR customers. I thoughtthat was a very important signal and reflective of
the partnership we have with Sophos,” said Jones.
After witnessing the benefits firsthand of Sophos
MDR, Shore decided to incorporate it into its techstack. The school realised there was no way it could
implement high-quality always-on threat hunting
internally and turned to Sophos MDR for a 24/7/365
solution. MDR was able to give Shore a far better
vantage point of the threat landscape and filteredout unnecessary alerts to reduce notification
fatigue for the Shore team. Sophos’ ongoing threat
hunting saves Shore significant time and money,
while Sophos’ Rapid Response team bolsters its
response and recovery protocols and puts Shore’stech team’s mind at ease.

The benefit of using Sophos
The Sophos team’s diligence, proactivity, and ability
surpassed Shore’s expectations. Sophos madeday-to-day use easy through Sophos Central, which
helped Jones and Shore become more productive.
Sophos Central’s usability gave Shore additional
peace of mind. With Sophos’ intuitive user
experience interface, Jones and his team wereable to understand threat notifications easily andquickly, which has proven crucial in many scenarios,
significantly reducing the stress and anxiety Shore’stech team felt when facing an attack.
“When you need to deep dive, the platform isintuitive and comprehensive. We can follow ournoses and get the right info confidently. This
became a huge time-saver and quickly answers any
concern that we might have,” said Jones.

CUSTOMER CASE STUDY SHORE“I feel that a system that can quickly get you to apoint where you know you are either okay or you are
not, is a big comfort factor,” said Jones. “Sophos
Central is intuitive and gives logical next steps
during the containment and recovery processes. It
means you stay well informed and feel supported
throughout the ordeal.”
On top of Sophos’ usability, Shore saw many
benefits from Sophos’ communication channels.
Sophos would consistently and immediately notify
Shore when systems were in need of updating,provide regular communications and alerts, andfrequently share clear and efficient reporting. Shoreis also privy to a variety of important information,
including recurring bulletins, free assessments, andmailing lists.
By working with Sophos, Shore has been able touphold a holistic cybersecurity strategy, protecting
more than 2000 students and staff throughsolutions including Sophos Central, Endpoint andMDR. It was not just the eminent solutions thathave created a successful relationship, but thepersonalised experience and proactivity Sophos
provides.

“Sophos is not justabout the products;
it offers something
more in the form ofimmediate support,
partnership, andthat invaluable
human touch. It’s
something we haven’t
experienced withother companies.”
Richard Jones, ICT Manager at Shore“Sophos is not just about the products; it offers
something more in the form of immediate support,
partnership, and that invaluable human touch.
It’s something we haven’t experienced with othercompanies.”

To find out more about Sophos
solutions, call (0)8447 671131
or email sales@sophos.com© Copyright 2023 Sophos Ltd. All rights reserved.
Registered in England and Wales No. 2096520, The Pentagon, Abingdon Science Park, Abingdon, OX14 3YP, UKSophos is a registered trademark of Sophos Ltd. All other product and company names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

23-02-07 CCS-EN (NP)