Higher Education
Higher-ed institutions are under tighter GLBA Safeguards Rule enforcement, research universities face CMMC pressure for DoW work, and ransomware crews are targeting universities specifically. We meet GLBA Safeguards on realistic budgets, stand up CMMC-ready research enclaves, and deploy AI governance that respects academic freedom while protecting the institution.
Overview
GLBA Safeguards, research-data security, and ransomware on a campus budget.
The Pressure
Universities face enterprise-grade obligations on a public-sector budget and an open-network culture.
- The FTC's amended GLBA Safeguards Rule is in active enforcement, requiring annual written risk assessments, a designated qualified individual, MFA, encryption, and an incident-response program.
- Research universities on DoW-funded work face CMMC Level 2 (or higher) for any environment touching CUI, alongside evolving NIH and NSF data-management mandates.
- FERPA scrutiny on edtech and LMS/SIS vendor handling of student data is growing, and international-student data sits at the intersection of FERPA, deemed-export controls, and varying state privacy laws.
- Ransomware crews target universities specifically — the open-network culture that makes universities great makes them hard to defend.
- AI governance is now a faculty-senate-level conversation, where academic-freedom and pedagogical-use questions collide with institutional risk.
The Gap
Higher-ed IT is federated by design, and most programs were not built for that reality.
- Central IT often does not control what individual departments and research labs run, leaving real coverage uneven.
- GLBA Safeguards programs are written but operationally inconsistent, with central IT and individual-school IT operating to different standards.
- CMMC and CUI research enclaves are funded slowly because they reduce researcher convenience and create friction.
- AI governance frameworks borrowed from corporate environments ignore academic freedom and pedagogical use, so faculty ignore them rather than adopt them.
- Generic security programs simply cannot operate in the decentralized reality of a research university.
How We Help
We work with the federated reality of higher-ed IT rather than against it.
- Meet GLBA Safeguards on realistic budgets, with central-IT and school-IT alignment workshops that close the operational gaps.
- Stand up CMMC-ready research enclaves (NIST 800-171) that researchers will actually use.
- Deploy Applied AI governance that accommodates academic freedom and pedagogical use while protecting the institution.
- Scope Technology & Security Audit, GRC, and Third-Party Risk Management (HECVAT-aware) for federated environments and decentralized footprints.
- Run SOC, Identity Operations, and Backup & DR as managed services tuned for higher-ed, with a Breach Retainer pre-positioned for the ransomware events hitting peer institutions.
Meet GLBA and CMMC obligations, keep researchers productive, and get an AI policy faculty will actually follow.
Capabilities
What we deliver
Cybersecurity Strategy
Multi-year roadmap aligned to NIST CSF or HECVAT, scaled to budget reality and tied to the academic calendar.
GLBA Safeguards Compliance
Higher-ed implementation of FTC Safeguards Rule for student financial information.
Research Data Security
NIST 800-171 for CUI in research, secure enclaves, foreign collaboration risk, CMMC for federal contractors.
Identity & Federated Access
SSO, MFA, InCommon federation, Shibboleth, account takeover prevention.
Incident Response
Higher-ed-aware IR — coordinating with general counsel, communications, academic leadership, and federal funding agencies.
Vendor Risk Programs
Higher-ed vendor diligence (HECVAT-aware), contracting language, ongoing monitoring of LMS, SIS, and EdTech vendors.
Protect your students, faculty, and research
Let's talk about your security roadmap on a higher-ed budget.