Building the Foundation for an International Higher Education Security Operations Center
© UHH/Esfandiari
Joint, around-the-clock protection for IT systems – that is the aim of an international higher education security operations center (SOC). The University of Hamburg and Indiana University (USA) have now laid the foundations for such a project with a letter of intent. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sebastian Gerling, LL.M., chief digital and chief information officer, explains why this is an important step for the future of university IT.
Joint, around-the-clock protection for IT systems—that is the aim of an international higher education security operations center (SOC). The University of Hamburg and Indiana University (USA) have now laid the foundations for such a project with a letter of intent. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sebastian Gerling, LL.M., chief digital and chief information officer, explains why this is an important step for the future of university IT.
Mr. Gerling, why is it necessary to set up an international security operations center for universities?
Universities today are highly networked institutions that process a wide range of sensitive data, from research data to personal information. Attackers are increasingly targeting these systems. With an international SOC, we are pooling the resources, expertise, and vigilance of many partners so that we can detect, analyze, and prevent cyber threats more quickly. This step significantly strengthens university resilience against cyberattacks.
What is the advantage of working together?
We are already working on SOC with several universities in Hamburg. International cooperation helps us exchange extensive, current knowledge about threats, while the operation of a joint SOC offers many additional advantages. For example, the SOC could be set up according to the “follow-the-sun” principle so that threats are monitored and dealt with at all times, as the partners come from different time zones. So, when a team in Europe calls it a day, a partner in the USA or Asia takes over. This creates seamless 24/7 protection that a single national SOC could provide only with a lot of additional effort. This also saves considerable financial and human resources.
What happens now after the cooperation agreement with Indiana University?
The agreement with Indiana University is the first step. We want to involve other universities around the world to build a robust, global network. The more partners participating, the stronger the overall resilience of university IT becomes. This is how we are creating the basis for secure research and teaching in digital space, which is vital to the future of scientific pursue and society.