Security centre launched to help universities tackle rising number of cyberattacks

A new dedicated Security Operations Centre (SOC) has been launched by IT firm Jisc to help safeguard universities against the rising threat of cybercrime.

Over the past year, hundreds of cyberattacks have affected universities, including 11 major attacks which “severely” impacted operations at institutions across the UK including the University of Cambridge and the University of Manchester.

As a result, a new SOC has been launched to defend the nation’s institutions from state-sponsored and state-aligned cyber warfare.

Jisc, who launched the centre, estimates that each cyberattack costs the quaternary sector about £2 million.

It is hoped that the SOC will be a more cost-effective approach to cyber defence, helping to reduce the time and money spent on responding to cyberattacks.

Part of what the SOC does is to alleviate some of these challenges that the university faces where we take some control and support universities in mitigating some of those security risks

David Batho, Director of Security at Jisc

The centre was launched on 31 March, with the technology and specialist expertise provided by the centre hoped to relieve pressures facing universities.

24/7 protection, threat detection, and rapid incident response will all be provided by the centre’s operations.

Director of Security at Jisc, David Batho, acknowledged that preventing attacks is often difficult, but hoped that the SOC would relieve these challenges to an extent.

Batho said: “Part of what the SOC does is to alleviate some of these challenges that the university faces where we take some control and support universities in mitigating some of those security risks.”

He did however add that the lack of skills and knowledge in the cyber defence sector means there may still be ongoing issues with defence, despite the centre.

Regardless, the security operation centre has high hopes, with attacks at higher education institutions across the country already prevented by their operations.