Upgrading our cybersecurity system to CrowdStrike

CrowdStrike is an industry leader in cybersecurity and will offer us increased protection against malware, ransomware and identity threats.

Why are we doing this?

The University has a good foundation of cybersecurity in place however as the complexity and frequency of cyber attacks continue to increase, how we keep our information secure online is becoming increasingly important.

As part of the Integrated Infrastructure Plan (IIP), IT Services are implementing initiatives to bolster our cybersecurity and keep our University information safe by improving our cyber protections. 

We have chosen CrowdStrike to form part of our cyber protections because: 

• Their detecting and reporting services operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year round. 
• If a device is attacked, CrowdStrike will automatically protect it without needing action from the Cybersecurity team. This is especially useful for when cyber incidents happen outside of working hours. 
• It will allow us to use the same service to protect all of our platforms (Windows, Mac and Linux).
• It will provide relevant teams in IT Services with information on potential vulnerabilities and threats in our systems or networks, meaning we can protect devices before they are compromised.

What does it mean for me?

This change will offer increased protection against malware, ransomware and identity threats for all members of staff using a managed device. 

You shouldn’t experience any difference in the day-to-day use of your device once CrowdStrike has been deployed, you'll only receive a notification if any suspicious activity is detected.

What about the outage incident in July?

In July 2024 CrowdStrike deployed a defective update to their security service which impacted all devices running a Windows operating system, and resulted in a global IT outage.

We discussed this with CrowdStrike during our trial period and they have assured us that the testing and quality control for the release of these security updates have improved following the incident.