COVER STORY of protecting the IB ’ s assets from cyberattacks and data loss .
Why did you select Darktrace as the vendor and what were you looking to achieve ?
Cyber threats have ramped up in sophistication and frequency in recent years – this is no longer a human-scale problem and we knew that we needed to leverage Machine Learning to not only watch over our critical data , but autodefend it . Security tools that work from a knowledge of previous attacks were no longer working in an age of increasingly novel campaigns .
Darktrace ’ s approach has redefined enterprise security . The AI is powered by unsupervised Machine Learning and therefore works on our live data , constantly learning and re-learning what is ‘ normal ’ for our systems at any given moment . No one else is approaching the problem like this – it was a nobrainer for us .
How important is it for an education institution like the IB to operate with a robust cybersecurity posture ?
We are protecting our organisational integrity and the ability of our stakeholders to continue their goals . The education sector is becoming increasingly targeted by threat actors , and the recent announcement of the UK ’ s National Cyber Security Centre is particularly telling of this trend .
In the past year , we ’ ve seen an upsurge in attacks on the education sector aiming to undermine data integrity and in turn , organisational reputation , which can erode trust in the education sector itself .
Attackers are increasingly targeting virtual cloud environments – including those used by educators . This is particularly concerning for the education sector , which already has one of the highest click-rate of any industry for malicious emails . We must arm the sector with robust cybersecurity to not only ensure that students can continue their educational development , but
Having AI fight back on our behalf means we can continue what we are here to do : deliver our mission .
also maintain the integrity of academic institutions by keeping the systems they rely on and their personal data safe from compromise .
Did you experience any complications during the implementation process and if so , how were they overcome ?
We did not experience any complications . Darktrace ’ s free 30-day Proof of Value gave us the opportunity to witness the benefits of its technology and was installed within an hour . Even in this first month , we saw suspicious activity that our existing tools were not identifying .
The ease of deployment was unparalleled as the AI starts working immediately and requires no additional configurations . The AI is self-learning and therefore able to build a full picture of what is happening on our systems from day one – by having a ‘ sense of self ’, not only does the AI understand where threatening activity is happening , but it also knows how to stop that attack in a way that is very targeted .
How has the solution created a more reliable and secure foundation for student data ?
Personal data is just one among the many critical assets we are safeguarding with Darktrace AI .
The beauty of Darktrace AI is that it looks inwards – it uses unsupervised Machine Learning to gain a sense of self . This shifts attention away from the attackers and their next moves , towards an understanding of what is really happening on our systems – the data flows , email communications , cloud services and IoT device behaviour . From this understanding , AI spots the real problem as it is occurring and crucially stops it before an attack unfolds and before any data is compromised . This ‘ Autonomous Response ’ capability enables us to have full confidence that the integrity of our student data is maintained at all times and that anything malicious will be thwarted long before any data can be leaked .
How has the solution meant you are now better equipped to respond to fast-acting threats before they have time to escalate into a breach ?
Darktrace ’ s ‘ Autonomous Response ’ capability – Darktrace Antigena – is critical for responding to fast-acting threats in their earliest stages before damage can be done . It acts rapidly and intelligently to enforce our organisation ’ s ‘ pattern of life ’.
Today , we are in a new era of attacks . Computer-speed attacks like ransomware are launched at educational institutions on a regular basis and they are too fast for human teams to contain . Not only that , attackers often launch them on weekends or at night when they think they have a chance of being successful .
Antigena intervenes without the need for human input – crucially , it fights back at computer speed . When attackers start to leverage AI themselves to launch attacks , this technology will be absolutely critical in fighting back – we cannot pit humans against machines .
How satisfied are you with the transformation and what capabilities has this provided you with ?
We are a long-standing customer of Darktrace and we continue to be impressed by its ability to constantly adapt and re-learn rapid changes in our environment . This meant that our transition to remote operations was as seamless as possible . Having AI fight back on our behalf means we can continue what we are here to do : deliver our mission . u www . intelligentciso . com
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