BeyondTrust > Case Studies > University of Winchester Uses Privilege Management to Lock Down Security Risk

University of Winchester Uses Privilege Management to Lock Down Security Risk

Company Size

1,000+

Region

Europe

Country

United Kingdom

Product

PowerBroker for Windows

Tech Stack

Windows Desktops
Windows Servers
Active Directory

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Technology Category

Cybersecurity & Privacy - Identity & Authentication Management

Applicable Industries

Education

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Use Cases

Cybersecurity

Services

System Integration

About The Customer

The University of Winchester is a 175-year-old institution that was ranked among the top 20 universities in England for overall satisfaction in the National Student Survey 2014. The university has a strong emphasis on security and managing any vulnerabilities inadvertently caused by staff and students. The IT management team is responsible for the smooth-running of the campus, which includes managing around 1500 Windows desktops, used by approximately 8000 students and around 1000 staff members across 16 different departments. The university also runs Windows back-end servers in an Active Directory environment.

The Challenge

The University of Winchester, a 175-year-old institution, was facing a challenge in securing its vast IT infrastructure. The university had to protect and support around 1500 Windows desktops, used by approximately 8000 students and around 1000 staff members across 16 different departments. The network was set up so that both staff and students could not just connect their own devices to back-end systems, and access was limited to the Internet. The university had not experienced any security breaches, but there was no room for complacency. The challenge was to manage user privileges in a way that would not impact productivity or create additional administrative workload.

The Solution

The university identified that managing user privileges was a simple and effective way to make their security more robust. Privilege management is about eliminating unnecessary rights – for example, administrator rights – to minimise the risk of malware attacks. However, the university also needed to retain the flexibility that some of their users required. For instance, some staff members needed their privileges to be elevated so that they could install and manage applications themselves. After a thorough investigation of the marketplace, the university implemented privilege management software from BeyondTrust called PowerBroker for Windows Desktops and Servers. This centralised solution uses a ‘least privilege’ model and has proved a perfect fit for the university’s needs.

Operational Impact

The university has completely removed automatic administrator rights among its users, while simultaneously providing adequate rights to perform the tasks that students and staff need.
The university no longer needs to ‘punch holes’ in its security in order to complete certain tasks.
The added bonus is decreased time spent dealing with user support issues, meaning that the team can spend more time on other activities.
With the help of least privilege management from BeyondTrust, the University of Winchester has consistent, robust security policies campus-wide, balancing the need to give staff flexibility when it is needed, without impacting on security or creating additional workload for the IT department.