Information Technology & Innovation

IT Security upgrades and improvements

Providing and maintaining a safe and secure Network – both wired and wireless, is a critical and daunting task.  Nearly all IT systems – servers that run our software and applications, desktop computers, smartphones, tablets and yes – even the laundry facilities -depend upon our network.  To that end, our IT Security team – lead by Rich Parmalee and Ethal Rollins have worked with their IT&I colleagues and vendors to implement some important upgrades and improvements.

 

Firewall upgrade:

Following best practices of a five year replacement cycle, we replaced existing firewall hardware to stay current, remain within a supported platform, and to handle the increase in the use of networked technology over the Internet.  A quick comparison between new and old firewalls:

  • Old firewall supported 20Gbps throughput (10 Gbps with threat prevention) & 4 million sessions
  • New firewall supports 39Gbps throughput (20Gbps with threat prevention) & 8 million sessions.

And in addition, our IT&I team helped WCSU save ~$22K per year by purchasing new hardware (with annual maintenance included) versus renewing maintenance on the existing old hardware.

Coming soon: The Protective Enclave: 

The Protective Enclave is a physical and/or logical separation of applications, systems and networks that process DCL3 data.  The Protective Enclave provides a high security computing environment for the limited number of Faculty/Staff that process DCL3 data at the colleges and the CSCU System Office. In the past, DCL3 data was accessed from applications running directly on workstations. Now, DCL3 data must only be accessed from inside the CSCU Protective Enclave using applications launched from a virtual desktop.

The Protective Enclave will require additional security controls and restrictions to ensure the application and data remain protected. When accessing the Protective Enclave, Faculty and Staff will login through a secure channel to access to a virtual desktop. Once logged onto the virtual desktop, you will be able to access/work with DCL3 data (e.g., Banner, secure websites, documents contain confidential information, etc.). DCL3 data will not be able to leave the Protective Enclave.

Please reference this link from the BOR Website:  http://supportcenter.ct.edu/Service/ProtectiveEnclave.asp

For further details please contact Rich Parmalee – parmaleer@wcsu.educreate new email or Ethal Rollins – rollinse@wcsu.educreate new email