Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) has announced it has partnered with Acumen Cyber and HEFESTIS to bolster its cyber defences amid a rise in cyber attacks targeting the UK’s higher and further education sector. Through the collaboration, the university will benefit from Acumen’s state-of-the-art, CREST-accredited Security Operations Centre (SOC), providing round-the-clock threat monitoring, detection and response.
The partnership also includes the launch of a new graduate programme for ENU’s cyber security students, offering real-world work experience, sponsored PhD research and career development opportunities.
According to the recent Cyber Security Breaches survey, the higher and further education sector is a prime target for nation-state actors and cyber criminals seeking to steal academic research or compromise personal and financial data.
Acknowledging the severity of the threat, ENU identified a need to proactively enhance its cyber defences by partnering with a security expert that could oversee and manage a key element of its security operations. While the university had existing in-house defences, it recognised the need for 24/7 coverage to guard against sophisticated threats.
“Cyber security is critical to the safety and integrity of our operations, but given the diversity and complexity of our environment, we needed to find a partner with the capability to secure it effectively. We determined that Acumen was our partner of choice. Handing over this critical, time-intensive component to trusted experts provides a round-the-clock service we could not deliver ourselves, and has freed up internal resources to focus on strategic security projects that benefit students and staff, while significantly bolstering our cyber defences.” said Claire Taylor, Director of Information Services at Edinburgh Napier University and Chair of Higher Education Information Directors Scotland (HEIDS).
Following a competitive tender process involving global security providers, ENU identified Acumen Cyber as the ideal partner, offering competitive pricing, tailor-fit security and deep expertise within the higher and further education sectors. This sector-specific knowledge brings valuable insight that significantly enhances the university’s cyber resilience.
The partnership is also supported by HEFESTIS, a sector owned, not-for-profit organisation that provides shared cyber security services to universities across the UK. Last month, HEFESTIS and Acumen announced a new collaboration to better equip the higher and further sector with the expertise and market-leading security solutions needed to protect their complex environments and data from cyber attacks. ENU is now benefitting from this valuable collaboration. As a trusted and recognised body, ENU consulted HEFESTIS as part of the tender process and received full support for Acumen, with the HEFESTIS team recognising the unrivalled expertise it could provide to the university.
“We act as an independent and impartial voice on cyber security for the UK’s further and higher education sector and we would never recommend a client work with a commercial partner unless we had complete confidence in the service being delivered. We have been very impressed with Acumen and believe the organisation offers a competitive package that has been adapted to suit the needs of the university. This is a huge benefit as most other security service providers offer a one-size-fits-all solution, which doesn’t suit a university’s unique environment or consider budget constraints. I had no hesitation in recommending Acumen and believe between its team and HEFESTIS, ENU is now receiving a full-service security package to strengthen its cyber resilience,” said Brian Henderson, CEO of HEFESTIS.
Recognised as Scotland’s most advanced cyber defence hub, Acumen offers a CREST-accredited SOC underpinned by market-leading technology partners. The cutting-edge facility integrates expert security engineers, proactive threat intelligence and advanced security solutions to detect, respond to, mitigate and prevent attacks.
Through the partnership, ENU gains cost-effective access to Acumen’s expert security engineers, who provide continuous monitoring and rapid response to threats. Their deep expertise in the education sector ensures timely detection and mitigation of malicious activity, stopping attacks before they cause harm.
“We are absolutely delighted to announce our new partnership with Edinburgh Napier University. Not only is our team protecting the infrastructure of one of Scotland’s most important institutions, we have also established a new programme to engage more closely with the next generation of cyber talent. We have plans to sponsor PhD research, offer work experience placements and run a graduate program to bolster our internal team with the unrivalled cyber talent that ENU continuously produces. This isn’t just a partnership between two Scottish organisations, this is about bolstering the Scottish digital economy, creating new jobs and ultimately improving the country’s cyber defences,” said Mark Robertson, CEO of Acumen Cyber.
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