CUSTOMER CASE STUDY UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND

University of SouthernQueensland Teaches
Cybercriminals a Lesson
With Sophos MTR
Founded in 1967, University of Southern Queensland (USQ) has over 50 yearsof experience in educating students from around the globe. A recognised
leader in online and blended education, USQ is renowned for its supportive
environment and student-focused commitment to learning and teaching.

CUSTOMER-AT-A-GLANCE
University of Southern Queensland
Industry
Education
Customer
Since 2010
Websitehttps://usq.edu.au/

Number of Users
2500 employees in Australia
27,500+ students from around the worldSophos Solutions
Sophos Managed Threat Response (MTR) for Endpoint and Server
Sophos Phish Threat
Sophos Device Encryption

CUSTOMER CASE STUDY UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND‘We ran a proof of value exercise with a number of vendors,
but Sophos was the clear winner in terms of the benefits
and peace of mind it would bring to our team.’
Scott Sorley, Executive Director of ICT Services

Business Challenge
Needed to ensure proactive protection, particularly
throughout COVID-19 when many staff wereworking remotely.
Required a cybersecurity solution that could facethe evolving threat landscape especially targetingthe education sector.

When should cybersecurity
be more than just detection?
As an organisation that operates in a sector thathas seen several high-profile cyberattacks inrecent years, University of Southern Queensland(USQ) doesn’t underestimate the importance ofcybersecurity and the need to be proactive. Asan early adopter of online learning (which meant
the university didn’t miss a day of learning during
COVID-19 restrictions) its cybersecurity posturehas, for a long time, been very strong. However,for Scott Sorley, Executive Director of ICT Services
and Luke Drury, Cybersecurity Manager at USQ, it isimportant to remain proactive to defend against themodern threat landscape.

“The threat landscape moves at a rapid pace, so it’s
important we’re on the front foot and not waiting forsomething to happen,” said Drury.
After identifying what was needed, Sorley andDrury conducted a rigorous evaluation process,speaking with a number of vendors. They ultimately
decided Sophos’ Managed Threat Response (MTR)– a fully managed threat hunting, detection andresponse service that provides organisations witha dedicated 24/7 security team to neutralise themost sophisticated and complex threats – was theperfect service for the university’s requirements.
“What we were looking for wasn’t just about
the detection of threats, but also the response
capability.”CUSTOMER CASE STUDY UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND‘We wanted to invest in a service that ensured
we were being proactive in our cybersecurity
approach; a service that was going to not
only detect, but respond to these threats,
before they became a problem for us.’
Luke Drury, Cybersecurity Manager, University of Southern Queensland

How do you stop a pen testerin their tracks?
While confident Sophos MTR was the right choice,
Sorley and Drury did not expect the service to work
as well as it did. Initially, MTR was given restricted
access where USQ’s IT team would review all
threats flagged. After seeing how accurate andeffective the service was (there were no false
positives), MTR team members were given accessto manage and isolate threats themselves.

“It’s important we make smart investments thatdeliver real value to the organisation, but we didn’t
anticipate the value to be as good as what it hasbeen,” conveyed Drury. “We never expected to beable to take a step back and give MTR full autonomy,
without ongoing intervention from our end—but
that’s the way it is.”Drury recounts a time he put MTR to the test by
hiring third-party penetration testers, without
notifying the MTR team. To his—and the penetration
testers’—great surprise, MTR passed with flying
colours.

“MTR picked the pen testers’ pockets. Thepenetration testers had no answer or recourse
for being stopped. Every time the testers tried
anything, MTR isolated the endpoints and notified
us immediately of what was happening. TheSophos MTR called and spoke to us in front of thepenetration testers, who were still shocked they
couldn’t find a way in. That was the very point weknew we could absolutely trust the Sophos service.”iCUSTOMER CASE STUDY UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND

What are the benefits ofworking with Sophos?
By partnering with a proactive service, USQ has
full assurance it is protected by a team of highly
trained technical support representatives that“has its back”. MTR is also cost efficient. It not
only eliminates the cost of hiring several full-time
employees, but it also frees up existing resourcesfrom performing such things as admin, analysis andreporting to focus on other priorities.

“Sophos MTR allows our resources to do more.
We trust the MTR service is doing its job and that
the Sophos team will be in touch if somethingneeds to be discussed. When we see the MTR
team calling or emailing, we stop and give themour full attention, because we know it’s important.
The level of partnership we have with Sophos isunprecedented,” concluded Drury.

As the Sophos MTR team understands USQ’senvironment, it can collaborate directly with theuniversity rather than operate in a transactionalmanner, making it a true partner to the organisation.

‘Sophos MTR allows
our resources to domore. We trust theMTR service is doing
its job and that theSophos team will bein touch if somethingneeds to be discussed.’
Luke Drury, University of Southern Queensland

To find out more about
Sophos solutions, visit
www.sophos.com or emailsales@sophos.com

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