Protecting students, teachers, and administrators from phishing and malware with Avanan
Customer Company Size
Large Corporate
Region
- America
Country
- United States
Product
- Avanan Security Anti-Phishing
Tech Stack
- SmartPhish AI engine
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Productivity Improvements
Technology Category
- Cybersecurity & Privacy - Cloud Security
- Analytics & Modeling - Machine Learning
Applicable Industries
- Education
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
Use Cases
- Cybersecurity
Services
- Cybersecurity Services
About The Customer
The Bethel School District covers over 200 square miles in southeast Pierce County, with an enrollment of over 20,000 students. The district is committed to the educational and personal development of young people, preparing them for the challenges they'll face as adults. A key part of their mission is ensuring students have the skills and abilities needed to meet the challenges of an information society and to utilize its rapidly changing technologies. Students and teachers in the district collaborate on projects and share files using Gmail and Google Drive. Chad Marlow, the director of operation of technology at Bethel Schools, oversees the information security of the entire district.
The Challenge
Bethel School District in Washington state realized the need for a proactive security solution after two major phishing attacks on nearby districts resulted in significant losses. One attack led to the theft of $50,000 worth of computer equipment, while another resulted in a breach of personally identifiable information from all finance department employees. While Bethel Schools had not experienced breaches of this magnitude, they had endured some phishing attacks in the past. After learning of these events, a breach of that nature seemed increasingly possible.
The Solution
After the targeted attacks on neighboring districts, Chad decided to run Avanan in Protect mode to block phishing campaigns at Bethel Schools. Avanan uses SmartPhish, an AI engine that scans emails and attachments in real time. SmartPhish uses over 300 unique indicators of phishing to analyze each email and continuously adds hacker methods to that list of indicators. This approach ensures that the algorithm is updated on the latest threats and can identify variations of those attacks in the future. SmartPhish also baselines historical and real-time communication using NLP, making its processing power more specific to Bethel School District. Using Avanan's detailed forensics, Chad can investigate attacks quickly, quarantine phishing campaigns affecting multiple inboxes, and block similar threats in the future.
Operational Impact
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