Newman University Returns to WatchGuard in Search of a Unified Security Platform
Newman University is a Catholic university named for St. John Henry Newman and founded by the Adorers of the Blood of Christ for the purpose of empowering graduates to transform society.
Higher ed institutions are a big target for ransomware and Newman University’s CIO, Icer Vaughan, was looking to upgrade the school’s cybersecurity ecosystem for several reasons. He needed firewall appliances that were more user friendly – as well as overall security technology that was easy to deploy yet provided maximum protection.
Challenge
Between the increasing cyber insurance requirements that insurance companies are putting in place, and the need for technologies that align with identity protection and zero trust adoption, Newman University knew they had to take a different security approach. This is also a customer that has used WatchGuard security technology in the past. After trying other solutions and experiencing complex security and increasing risks for blind spots, they decided to look at “going back to WatchGuard.”
“Reseller did not even want to try to sell me [competitor] again! I really wanted my WatchGuard back; it was so easy to use! So, I used the WatchGuard.com website to find a local Gold reseller to help me get back into WatchGuard.”
Another area of increasing concern was how the higher ed industry is continuously targeted by hackers. According to Hackmageddon stats , the education sector accounted for almost 10% of globally reported attacks. It’s reported that at least 26 PYSA ransomware attacks (a malware capable of exfiltrating data and encrypting users’ critical files) involved colleges and universities. As a result of this, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a warning regarding the increase in PYSA ransomware targeting education institutions.
Along with addressing all these challenges, Newman University also wanted to remove the potential for blind spots in their security infrastructure. With all the moving parts involved in enabling secure access for students, staff, and faculty population, this had to be an important deliverable for their CIO.
Competitors Newman University considered for the bid
Sophos, Fortinet, SonicWall, Crowdstrike, McAfee, Sophos, Bitdefender, Norton, DUO
Solution
After reviewing proposals from several competitors, Newman University’s CIO felt strongly about choosing WatchGuard Technologies for one main reason: the opportunity to deploy advanced protection capabilities using a unified security platform.
Enabling network security, multi-factor authentication, endpoint and Wi-Fi security on a consolidated IT environment became the most secure yet cost-effective strategy to address both challenges and security vision for this organization.
Enabled WatchGuard Solutions:
- Firebox T20-W
- Firebox M4800
- AuthPoint
- Endpoint Protection, Detection and Response (EDPR)
- Wireless Access Points
Results
By migrating back to WatchGuard security technology through our partner, Tavtech, Newman University gained access to centralized managed security, protected users, environment, and data. Their new cybersecurity ecosystem includes:
- Intrusion Prevention Service
- Application Control
- Gateway AntiVirus
- WebBlocker
- Reputation Enabled Defense
- APT Blocker
- Threat Detection and Response
- WatchGuard Wi-Fi Cloud
- IntelligentAV
- DNSWatchGO
- AuthPoint MFA
The Benefits, as Told by the Customer
- Price
- Easy to use
- Great onboarding experience and sales engineer support
- Highly encouraging referrals
- Single well-coordinated solution that meets cybersecurity needs in one complete platform