九九福利网

With $7.5 million in support from the state legislature, higher education in Louisiana can now gain cyber protection鈥攁t no additional cost to the institution鈥�through an industry-leading model developed at LSU.

The LSU Security Operations Center, or SOC, will deliver round-the-clock protection together with its industry partners, TekStream and Splunk, while training students as cyber analysts.  

 

Dustin Glover, chief cyber officer for the state of Louisiana, explains how it鈥檚 going to work.  

鈥淔irst one to get hit by a cyberattack alerts everybody else,鈥� Glover said. 鈥淭he shared SOC allows us to take advantage of everyone鈥檚 disadvantage鈥攚e can鈥檛 stop that first attack鈥攂ut we use that to our advantage by sharing threat information from multiple sources, so everyone is better protected.鈥�  

Glover works directly with the Governor鈥檚 Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, or GOHSEP, Louisiana National Guard, Louisiana State Police鈥檚 Cyber Crime Unit and many others as part of the state鈥檚 emergency support function for cybersecurity, or ESF-17. His office is charged with identifying and remediating cyberattacks everywhere in Louisiana and provides support to state and local government and critical infrastructure, which includes universities.  

鈥淗igher education is a high-value target for attackers and you鈥檙e never going to change that,鈥� Glover said. 鈥淵ou have labs, students, staff and faculty. You have dorm rooms and class rooms, third party vendors. This becomes very complex to manage from a security perspective. It鈥檚 a huge burden on the state, and we spend a lot of money on just an adequate level of monitoring. We鈥檙e hoping, through this partnership with LSU and TekStream, that cost can go down and the value go up. I鈥檓 passionately convinced we can do this.鈥� 

In this year鈥檚 legislative session, state lawmakers allocated $7.5 million for LSU鈥檚 SOC expansion to protect all of Louisiana higher education in the permanent state budget. Glover sees three immediate benefits of this investment. First, his office can more easily and quickly learn about new attacks on universities and use their shared threat intelligence to better protect the state as part of its broader . Second, universities that protect themselves help the state save resources. Third, the SOCs in Baton Rouge and Shreveport will train students as professional cyber analysts.  

鈥淢y goal, very selfishly, is to tap that pool of talent for the Cyber Crime Unit of the Louisiana State Police, the Louisiana National Guard鈥檚 cyber operations and the state鈥檚 Office of Technology Services,鈥� Glover said.  

 

LSU鈥檚 model has received national attention since first announced last spring.  

鈥淟SU鈥檚 approach is a game-changer and gaining traction across higher education,鈥� said Mary Lou Prevost, Splunk鈥檚 group vice president for state, local and higher education. 鈥淲e鈥檙e focused on ensuring this model can be replicated across the entire country to provide all higher education institutions with a proven, scalable cybersecurity program that also creates a highly skilled workforce to fill the in the U.S.鈥�  

In recent weeks, LSU Baton Rouge and TekStream have been in full swing to recruit students from across the academic disciplines who are interested in working in the SOC to protect Louisiana and receive specialized, hands-on training to understand and manage cyber risk.  

The LSU Baton Rouge SOC is now fully up and running, and so is LSU Shreveport鈥檚. Both are physical SOCs with powerful capabilities. Participating schools across the state will soon gain cloud access to shared SOC capabilities, without the need to invest in staff, space or equipment. This virtual and free access is enabled by LONI, the Louisiana Optical Network Infrastructure, a state-owned, high-speed data network managed by LSU.  

The onboarding process of the more than 30 Louisiana schools connected by LONI is estimated to take up to two years, with as many as four new schools gaining SOC services each quarter.  

LSU Health New Orleans is among the first to join this month.  

鈥淲e鈥檙e finally at a point where we have a viable and useful SOC for all of higher education in Louisiana,鈥� said Kenneth Boe, chief information officer at LSU Health New Orleans. 鈥淣one of us could afford to do this alone. We couldn鈥檛 afford enough equipment or enough people to do it 24/7, and the bad guys all around the world, they鈥檙e not just hitting us during regular business hours.鈥�  

Louisiana Tech is also receiving cybersecurity services through the cloud-based SOC with the goal of getting their own physical, student-staffed SOC up and running by December.  

鈥淚t鈥檚 incredible, working with LSU and LONI, to actually see this happen鈥攅specially for public higher education,鈥� said Thomas Hoover, chief information officer at Louisiana Tech and vice president for information technology for the 九九福利网 of Louisiana System. 鈥淭his is our first opportunity to proactively improve our cybersecurity posture collectively. Ensuring this resource is available to everyone for free makes us all better. This is very exciting.鈥�  

The SOC services rollout will be high on the agenda when the Louisiana Board of Regents hosts its third cyber roadshow for Louisiana higher education this month. Chief information officers from around the state will gather at LSU Alexandria in Central Louisiana on October 11 and at Nicholls State in Thibodaux in South Louisiana on October 12.  

鈥淲e started these cyber roadshows in July 2022 with the help of ESF-17, the state鈥檚 cybersecurity team,鈥� said Matthew LaBruyere, deputy commissioner for finance and administration at the Louisiana Board of Regents. 鈥淥ur goal is to provide Louisiana higher education with information on what the state is doing to become proactive towards cybersecurity to help with incident response and in writing individual response plans. This month鈥檚 regional meetings will have a SOC component in addition to new information for responding to events.鈥�  

Meanwhile, at LSUS, students are eagerly eyeing the six SOC workstations they鈥檒l soon be using to help respond to cyber threats.  

鈥淲orking in the LSUS SOC will be an avenue for me to contribute to the success and security of the state,鈥� said Sarah Okpe, a graduate student majoring in cybersecurity at LSUS. 鈥淚t would give me hands-on training and experience with real-life scenarios, and that will help me in my current course work and in my future career.鈥�  

Dustin Glover says LSU鈥檚 foresight and Louisiana鈥檚 leadership in cyber is setting an example for the nation.  

鈥淚t鈥檚 very difficult for the Department of Homeland Security and its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to accomplish the goal that鈥檚 been set before them, which is to secure the nation,鈥� Glover said. 鈥淩ight now, Louisiana and LSU are showing the federal government how cyber defense can become more efficient. There is a better way to do this, and we鈥檙e proving so.鈥�

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Trailblazing Partnership with Industry, State: LSU Leads the Way in Cyber Protection for Louisiana Higher Ed

 

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