The California Community Colleges Information Security Center, funded by the statewide Chancellor’s Office, will align its services to the technology goals of Cal-Secure, an Executive Branch blueprint for all state entities to strengthen cybersecurity defenses and overall preparedness.
Cal-Secure outlines a five-year roadmap with specific goals related to people, process, and technology. Technology-related priorities include: 1) Define a baseline set of required cybersecurity capabilities; 2) Modernize business processes and systems throughout the state; and 3) Collaboratively tackle cybersecurity threats.
The technology roadmap is organized based on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework and aligns with NIST Special Publication 800-53 and the State Administrative Manual section 5300.
These standards are also foundational to the CCC Information Security Center, which was created by the CCC Technology Center in 2014 to help California community colleges comply with state and federal laws governing data security by providing free access to best-in-class tools and services. Its vast array of offerings include training; security assessment; vulnerability management; data protection, incident response; and policy templates, among others.
Having developed its suite of services specifically to align with NIST cybersecurity standards in support of the security requirements of the U.S. Department of Education, the Information Security Center is well positioned to support Cal-Secure’s cybersecurity capabilities roadmap.
“The CCC Information Security Center is an integral part of our security plan. The services they offer (Tenable, Splunk, InCommon SSL certificates, workshops, etc.) are invaluable to all of the California Community Colleges, especially the smaller ones like ours,” said Brent Long, Network Administrator at Copper Mountain College. “We truly appreciate all of their assistance and support. Their services and knowledge help improve our security posture and protect all of the students and employees that utilize district network resources.”
Pasadena City College has found the Tenable service offered through the Information Security Center to be helpful for continuously scanning the network and remediating any vulnerabilities, said Nairi Zograbyan, PCC’s IT Security Administrator. He added that the center’s free security assessments are a vital resource for the colleges.
“Such a service is difficult to obtain from third parties, much less offered at no cost,” Zograbyan said. “We are thankful for the diligence of the Information Security Center team as they’ve helped raise our district’s security posture.”
To learn more about free services available to California community colleges through the Information Security Center, visit CCCSecurityCenter.org.
