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Cybersecurity Initiative
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRUST
Pitt Information Technology’s proactive initiatives strengthen defenses to help protect individuals and the University from an increasing prevalence of cyberthreats.
Partnerships and Collaboration
All students, faculty, and staff play an important role in safeguarding our data, which is why Pitt IT prioritizes outreach and education as a key line of defense. Collaborating with the Office of the Provost, we hosted a Cybersecurity Tech Fest for students, delivered cybersecurity awareness presentations to staff in partnership with Staff Council, and launched cybersecurity training for incoming students. We shared expertise with the FBI in a presentation on our University-wide automation and response initiatives, and we looked towards the future by submitting a National Security Agency (NSA) grant proposal focused on expanding our cybersecurity education efforts.
Deploying Next-Generation Firewalls
Network firewalls are critical to securing the University’s computing environment. Pitt IT is replacing existing network firewalls on all campuses with next-generation firewalls to enhance performance, strengthen security, and realize cost savings for the University.
Phishing and Email Security
Pitt IT acts quickly to keep data secure when phishing campaigns impact thousands of mailboxes across the University. To combat phishing, Pitt IT implemented the DMARC Email Validation System, which helps prevent email spoofing by verifying sender domains to block suspicious emails.
Behind the scenes, we partnered with the digital forensics and incident response group, Schneider Downs, to refine our threat prevention, detection, and response tactics.
We also piloted a state-of-the-art public safety security platform that uses Machine Learning and AI to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of Public Safety using advanced video analysis.