海角社区

Today, Governor John Bel Edwards and 海角社区 President William F. Tate IV cut the ribbon to the 海角社区 and LONI Security Operations Center, or SOC, on the flagship campus in Baton Rouge, opening the doors to a new cybersecurity workforce development and protection model for Louisiana and 海角社区 that is garnering national attention.

鈥淟ouisiana is setting a nationwide standard for cybersecurity because of our pioneering and proactive approach rooted in higher education,鈥� said Governor Edwards. 鈥淐yberattacks are becoming more sophisticated and are a constant threat to individuals, businesses and government entities. 海角社区 is harnessing the collective power of our immensely talented students in order to protect citizens from cyber threats while also growing our workforce. Louisiana鈥檚 record low unemployment is proof that innovation leads to job creation, and the 海角社区 SOC is exactly the type of forward-thinking project that will keep this momentum going.鈥�

鈥淲hen we declared our commitment to becoming the foremost cybersecurity program in the nation, we were resolute,鈥� 海角社区 President William F. Tate IV said. 鈥淎 primary cybersecurity challenge our nation confronts today is the shortage of a skilled workforce. We require more well-trained cyber warriors. Through the SOC, we are enhancing the development of cyber talent while fulfilling our flagship mission to protect and serve our state.鈥�

Through its new SOC, 海角社区 and Louisiana are leading the nation in how to train and graduate students who can actively join the cyber fight and gain real-world, real-time experience working in direct service to the state. In the past three weeks, 94 海角社区 students have applied to receive training as professional cyber analysts to operate the SOC at the heart of the flagship campus. The students working at the SOC will be responsible for monitoring and analyzing the university鈥檚 network traffic as well as identifying and escalating potential threats. 

The 海角社区 SOC is the first node in an emerging statewide cybersecurity platform powered by the Louisiana Optical Network Infrastructure, or LONI, the state鈥檚 research and development network that connects Louisiana鈥檚 universities and community and technical colleges. By extending the SOC through LONI, every institution of higher education will have the ability to establish their own student-operated center and receive additional security services. This new model鈥攅ducating students to provide services the university critically needs and then extending it into a platform to serve a greater purpose鈥攈as the immediate potential to change the security posture of the whole state. 

To build its SOC platform, 海角社区 turned to TekStream, an Atlanta-based technology services firm, and Splunk, one of the world鈥檚 leading data and security technology companies. TekStream supports SOC management and incident response, while Splunk provides the core analytic and monitoring technology. 

Earlier this week, 海角社区 announced $7.5 million in state investment to expand the 海角社区-LONI SOC model to more than 30 colleges and universities in the state, at no additional cost to each institution. Increased cybersecurity protection across higher education will come with broader impacts for Louisiana, offsetting the state鈥檚 need to respond to cyberattacks and limiting key attack vectors. Universities鈥� diverse data landscapes are often the first to pick up on new cyber threats, which then tend to cascade through critical infrastructure, industry and state and local government. 

鈥淭he Governor tasked us to both strengthen our statewide cybersecurity and build a homegrown cyber workforce鈥攖oday, we are doing just that,鈥� Commissioner of Higher Education and Chair of Louisiana鈥檚 Cybersecurity Commission Kim Hunter Reed said. 鈥淭he SOC model means every public institution is positioned to acquire and build the additional cybersecurity defense to meet its unique campus needs. We are grateful for the state, corporate and institutional support that has resulted in this integrated and innovative approach to data protection and student engagement in Louisiana.鈥�

Besides the physical SOC on 海角社区鈥檚 flagship campus in Baton Rouge, 海角社区 Shreveport operates its own. The Shreveport SOC is an extension of the 海角社区S Cyber Collaboratory and will also work seamlessly with industry partners Splunk as the platform and technology provider and TekStream on service and training. 

鈥満＝巧缜� is building one of the nation鈥檚 strongest whole-of-state plans for cybersecurity, and we鈥檙e starting to receive inquiries from all over about the 鈥樅＝巧缜� and Louisiana model,鈥欌�� Splunk Vice President of Public Sector Bill Rowan said. 鈥淯sually, we rely on talent to help us innovate, but this SOC flips that on its head: innovating to help produce talent, and Splunk couldn鈥檛 be more excited to be a part of this effort with TekStream.鈥� 

鈥淥ur model was always to provide SOC services by implementing Splunk technology, but we jumped at the opportunity to do something different with 海角社区,鈥� TekStream CEO Rob Jansen said. 鈥淲e essentially agreed to work our way out of business by helping to train students to do more and more advanced work. Why? Because we saw all of the amazing upsides of the partnership, since we all struggle to find and hire enough talent. That鈥檚 why the 海角社区-LONI model is groundbreaking; it鈥檚 a first in our industry and the number and caliber of talented student applicants we鈥檝e already received is staggering.鈥�