MCNC expands cybersecurity tools, services and personnel

Non-profit technology provider works to keep North Carolina connected and protected

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Feb 22, 2019, 10:00 ET

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Feb. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MCNC, the technology nonprofit that builds, owns and operates the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN), today announced continued growth and commitment to ensuring high-speed connections on NCREN meet the highest levels of security.

MCNC now offers a full range of advanced cybersecurity solutions including three new services: DNS Security Filtering, Continuous Monitoring and Risk Assessment, and Security Advisory Consulting. All of MCNC's new or enhanced services build upon existing services such as Enhanced DDoS Protection, Managed firewall, and Web Content Filtering.

Industry-Leading Compliance
MCNC successfully completed a Service Organization Controls (SOC) Type II examination in 2018 and is expected to renew this high-level certification again this month. The SOC Type II standard verifies that MCNC is appropriately managing security risks and is serious about data protection and effective operations.

DNS Security Filtering
MCNC's DNS Security Filtering is a cloud-based security service powered by Akamai's Enterprise Threat Protector platform. The service protects against malware, phishing, botnet command and control, and DNS data exfiltration threats by automatically checking requested domains against Akamai's real-time domain risk scoring engine. Domains and IP addresses associated with malicious sites will not be resolved, preventing users from accessing the malicious sites. It's an easy-to-deploy, low-cost solution to help protect today's infrastructure and users.

Continuous Monitoring and Risk Assessment (CMRA)
CMRA is an automated solution that scans a customer's network hosts, identifies systems that may be vulnerable to compromise, calculates risks of those vulnerabilities, and prioritizes the issues for resolution based on likelihood and impact of exploitation. MCNC has activated this service for more than 60 NCREN customers to date with dozens more already expressing interest in it this year.

Security Advisory Consulting
MCNC cybersecurity professionals assist in all areas of information security and risk management. The team's most popular service is the Cybersecurity Program Review, where MCNC evaluates a customer's existing cybersecurity program. Using the results of the review, MCNC builds a plan to improve a customer's security posture in a way that prioritizes the most critical cyber-risk areas.

Enhanced DDoS Protection
MCNC continues to invest in Distributed Denial of Service, or DDoS, auto-mitigation capabilities for NCREN. The NCREN backbone infrastructure has been updated with advanced traffic routing capabilities including multiple DDoS scrubbing centers deployed on the network. MCNC's Enhanced DDoS Protection is now a standard part of NCREN services and is provided to network customers at no additional cost.

Experts Ready to Serve
The MCNC Security Team led by Chief Information Security Officer Chris Beal continues growing to meet the demand of NCREN customers. The team now includes Paul Conrad as a Senior Cybersecurity Engineer, Ruthy Mabe as Security Services Program Manager, and Sandon Nachmann and Jason Shirley as our Security Advisory Consultants; with additional plans to hire more industry experts throughout the year.

"MCNC has a rich history of developing and delivering innovative technology solutions and services," said Beal. "Now that cybersecurity is an essential part of today's technology-driven society, the organization continues to develop a portfolio of cybersecurity services to best serve the citizens of North Carolina as a trusted partner, advisor, and resource in the rapidly-changing cybersecurity landscape."

In addition to cybersecurity, MCNC provides a vast portfolio of network-based technology services and community services to K-20 education, public safety, state and local government, not-for-profit health care, and research institutions across North Carolina. View these offerings on the MCNC Service Catalog.

About MCNC

MCNC is a technology nonprofit that builds, owns and operates the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN), which has successfully served research, education, non-profit health care, public safety, libraries, and other community institutions with Internet connectivity and services for 35 years. NCREN is the fundamental broadband infrastructure for 750 of these institutions including all K-20 education in North Carolina. As one of the nation's premier middle-mile fiber networks, MCNC leverages NCREN to customize Internet services and related applications for each customer while supporting private service providers in bringing cost-efficient connectivity to rural and underserved communities in North Carolina. Visit www.mcnc.org. MCNC Social: Facebook, Twitter @MCNC, YouTube, LinkedIn.

Editorial Contact
Noah Garrett, NGC Communications, on behalf of MCNC: (252) 423.1277 or [email protected]

SOURCE MCNC