Pliezhausen, 3 July 2024. DATAGROUP has launched the SOC-Hochschulen.nrw project to improve IT security at 24 universities North Rhine-Westphalia. The project will last for 36 months with the option to extend it and with a contract volume of several million euros. This clearly shows that investments for the future in our three focus areas already pay off. Supported by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, an extensive set of security services will be implemented in the 24 universities over the next weeks and months.

DATAGROUP together with the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia has launched the SOC-Hochschulen.nrw project to significantly improve the IT security at 24 universities in North Rhine-Westphalia. Over the next weeks and months, DATAGROUP will implement the modern security services in the participating colleges. These services will be continuously monitored and managed by the Security Operation Center (SOC).

The SOC will be installed by Hochschule Bielefeld in cooperation with DATAGROUP. In the lead-up to this, three pilot universities were successfully brought into operation, which was the basis for the upcoming implementation phase. All participating institutions will be integrated into the project by the end of the year and will reap the benefits.

One major component of the SOC is a proactive monitoring of the universities’ security systems. It identifies possible vulnerabilities by performing manual and in-depth security tests with the help of both automated systems and experts. Universities face specific challenges in relation to information and IT security because of their open and diverse IT structures. Cybercrime threats are omnipresent and are a constant danger for scientific institutions. The SOC-Hochschulen.nrw project will counter this problem.

“This assignment in cyber security marks another milestone in our strategic approach. Our investments in the future technologies of cyber security, cloud and AI bear fruit”, says Andreas Baresel, CEO of DATAGROUP. “With this project we take a decisive step towards a more robust and secure IT infrastructure for the universities in North Rhine-Westphalia. We are proud to head up this important initiative and look forward to closely work together with all participants.”