From Reactive Defense to Collaborative Cybersecurity: Harnessing SOC Support as a Force Multiplier

Across the country, community colleges are navigating rising risks while operating with limited capacity and resources. Most institutions operate with very small IT and security teams, and those teams are responsible for everything from infrastructure and classroom technology to student support, cloud services, compliance, and cybersecurity. In many cases, cybersecurity is not a dedicated function, but an additional responsibility carried by already overextended staff. At the same time, the threat landscape has become significantly more sophisticated. Community colleges face the same ransomware groups, phishing campaigns, credential attacks, and third-party risks as large universities or private-sector organizations, but without the same staffing levels or budgets. “Community colleges operate within highly complex environments,” explains Dr. Dawn Dunkerley, virtual Chief Information Officer (vCISO), Edge. “You have open networks, diverse user populations, bring-your-own-device cultures, legacy systems, operational technology, and a constant turnover of students and adjunct faculty. This atmosphere creates a very large attack surface.”

“On the ground, many institutions know what they should be doing from a security perspective, but they simply do not have enough people or time to operationalize it consistently,” continues Dunkerley. “This is where a managed Security Operations Center (SOC) and vCISO partnership becomes valuable. This collaboration allows institutions to extend their capabilities without having to build a full security organization internally. Colleges can access professional services, staff augmentation, and end-user support applications to take proactive control of cybersecurity needs and adapt to technological change.”

Empowering Internal Teams
As cybersecurity threats and regulatory expectations evolve, a vCISO can help organizations create and execute information security programs that are both effective and compliant. “A successful vCISO relationship is highly collaborative, where the goal is not to replace the institution’s IT leadership or internal team, but to augment them with strategic security expertise and operational support,” says Dunkerley. “The vCISO serves as a day-to-day trusted advisor and strategic partner. Focus areas include helping the institution prioritize risk, align security initiatives with institutional goals, support compliance efforts, guide incident response planning, assist with policy development, and communicate cybersecurity risk to executive leadership and boards. The SOC component of the engagement focuses on operational monitoring and response.” Continues Dunkerley, “Edge’s SOC team manages log monitoring, threat detection, alert triage, escalation, and coordination during security incidents, and helps institutions identify threats earlier and respond more effectively. An institution’s internal team remains critical, including maintaining ownership of the environment, understanding the operational context, and executing local remediation as needed. The partnership works best when the SOC and vCISO functions are an extension of the institution’s existing IT team rather than a completely separate entity. For many institutions, one of the biggest benefits is simply having experienced security professionals available to help make informed decisions quickly.”

Dawn Dunkerley

“On the ground, many institutions know what they should be doing from a security perspective, but they simply do not have enough people or time to operationalize it consistently. This is where a managed Security Operations Center (SOC) and vCISO partnership becomes valuable. This collaboration allows institutions to extend their capabilities without having to build a full security organization internally. Colleges can access professional services, staff augmentation, and end-user support applications to take proactive control of cybersecurity needs and adapt to technological change.”

– Dr. Dawn Dunkerley
Virtual Chief Information Officer (vCISO)
Edge

Creating Customized Security Plans
Since every institution operates within a unique environment, effective SOC and vCISO services must be highly flexible. Factors such as available resources, technology infrastructure, staffing levels, risk tolerance, and regulatory obligations all influence what a successful cybersecurity strategy looks like. As a result, security services must be tailored to align with each institution’s specific needs, challenges, and long-term goals. “Customization begins with understanding the institution’s existing capabilities, risk profile, infrastructure, staffing model, and operational priorities,” explains Dunkerley. “No two colleges are alike. Some institutions may already have mature security tooling and need help with monitoring and response. Others may need broader strategic guidance, improved visibility, or assistance in building foundational processes. The key point is that the service is not delivered as a rigid one-size-fits-all model. The SOC and vCISO relationship is tailored to where the institution is today and where it wants to go in terms of cybersecurity maturity.”

Creating a customized security plan that delivers measurable results begins with a comprehensive onboarding process designed to establish alignment from day one. “Successful onboarding begins with discovery and relationship-building,” says Dunkerley. “Before any technology integration, Edge spends time understanding the institution’s environment, priorities, existing tools, operational processes, and pain points.”

When partnering with Edge for SOC services, onboarding typically includes several parallel workstreams:

  • Identifying critical systems and data
  • Reviewing existing security controls and logging capabilities
  • Integrating security tools and telemetry sources into the SOC
  • Establishing escalation paths and communication procedures
  • Defining incident response workflows
  • Aligning priorities, reporting expectations, and governance processes

“One of the most important early steps is to establish clear communication and operational ownership,” notes Dunkerley. “Institutions need to know who to contact, when alerts are escalated, what constitutes an incident, and how response coordination will be handled. Another critical factor is visibility. Effective monitoring depends on integrating and properly configuring the right data sources. That foundational work has a major impact on detection and response quality moving forward. The onboarding process is also designed to minimize disruption. Colleges are busy operational environments, so implementation needs to be collaborative, practical, and aligned with the institution’s operational realities.”

Strengthening Overall Security Posture
Effective security integration depends on the ability to accommodate the diverse collection of tools and infrastructure commonly found across higher education. Because institutions often rely on a mix of legacy and modern technologies, the Edge SOC team prioritizes flexibility and interoperability to ensure seamless integration across the existing environment. “Institutions typically use a mix of legacy systems, cloud platforms, endpoint solutions, identity tools, and network technologies from multiple vendors,” explains Dunkerley. “Our approach starts by meeting institutions where they are technologically. Rather than forcing wholesale replacement of existing investments, we focus on integrating with the tools already delivering value and on identifying where there may be visibility or coverage gaps. That integration means working across a wide range of security information and event management (SIEM) platforms, endpoint detection tools, firewalls, cloud environments, identity providers, and vulnerability management solutions. The goal is to achieve centralized visibility and coordinated response capabilities without adding unnecessary operational complexity. Equally important is integrating with people and processes, not just technology. Every institution has its own workflows, culture, staffing realities, and decision-making structures. Effective integration requires understanding how the institution operates and aligning SOC engagement accordingly. Ultimately, the best partnerships feel less like an external vendor relationship and more like an extension of the institution’s internal team.”

While threat detection and response are important, the long-term value of SOC services is measured by how they strengthen an institution’s overall security posture and operational capabilities. “Meaningful progress in cybersecurity is not just about stopping individual threats, but building resilience and operational maturity over time,” says Dunkerley. “For example, member institutions who use our SOC services, like Passaic County Community College and Middlesex College, show progress in several areas including, but not limited to:

number 1Improved visibility into the environment. Institutions gain a clearer understanding of what is happening across their networks, systems, and user activity, enabling more informed decision-making.

number 2Response capabilities become more mature and consistent. Rather than reacting ad hoc to security events, institutions establish structured processes for detection, escalation, communication, and remediation.

number 3Leadership gains greater confidence in the institution’s cybersecurity posture. Regular reporting, strategic guidance, and measurable risk reduction help shift cybersecurity discussions from reactive technical conversations to proactive institutional planning. Perhaps most importantly, security becomes more operationalized across the institution. The institution moves from constantly feeling behind to establishing a sustainable framework for managing risk over time. That shift from reactive to proactive is often the most significant outcome.”

An EdgePro vCISO is able to assist in any of the following areas:

  • Organizational Leadership
  • Cybersecurity Team Development
  • InfoSec Team and Program Management
  • Ownership of Security Policy
  • Employee Security Awareness Programs
  • Security Framework Certifications
  • Technical Contract Review
  • 3rd Party & Vendor Risk Management
  • Vulnerability Management Programs
  • Business Risk Management & Assessment
  • IT Configuration Assessment & Audit

Establish & Improve:

  • Security Policy, Process, & Procedure
  • Roles, Responsibilities, & Organization
  • Human Resources Security Controls
  • Establish & Improve Asset & Data Management Controls
  • Access & Cryptographic Controls
  • Physical & Environmental Controls
  • Operations, Communications, and Incident Management Controls

“Customization begins with understanding the institution’s existing capabilities, risk profile, infrastructure, staffing model, and operational priorities. No two colleges are alike. Some institutions may already have mature security tooling and need help with monitoring and response. Others may need broader strategic guidance, improved visibility, or assistance in building foundational processes. The key point is that the service is not delivered as a rigid one-size-fits-all model. The SOC and vCISO relationship is tailored to where the institution is today and where it wants to go in terms of cybersecurity maturity.”

– Dr. Dawn Dunkerley
Virtual Chief Information Officer (vCISO)
Edge

Dawn Dunkerley

Improving Security Decision-Making
Building a fully functional SOC internally is extremely difficult and costly for most higher education institutions, particularly community colleges. To replicate these capabilities in-house, institutions need multiple security analysts, engineering expertise, leadership oversight, monitoring technology, threat intelligence, incident response capabilities, and continuous operational coverage. Also factor in staffing, training, retention, tooling, and operational overhead, the cost rises quickly. “One of the biggest challenges is staffing,” shares Dunkerley. “Cybersecurity professionals are in high demand, and maintaining around-the-clock coverage requires more personnel than many institutions initially anticipate. What often surprises institutions most is not just the cost difference but the speed at which they can develop mature capabilities through a shared services or partnership model. Instead of spending years building and stabilizing an internal SOC, institutions can access experienced personnel, established processes, and operational maturity much more quickly. Many institutions also find that the partnership model reduces operational stress on internal IT teams, allowing them to focus on strategic institutional priorities rather than operating in a constant state of reaction.”

The goal of a SOC partnership is to transform cybersecurity from an isolated, reactive burden into a collaborative operational capability. “Many smaller institutions assume they must solve every cybersecurity challenge internally, but modern threats move too quickly, and environments are too complex for most small teams to manage alone,” explains Dunkerley. “A strong SOC partnership provides more than monitoring. It provides visibility, expertise, process maturity, and support during high-pressure situations. Our goal is to help institutions detect issues earlier, respond more effectively, and make better-informed security decisions over time. Perhaps equally important, SOC services give internal teams confidence that they are not facing these challenges alone. For many institutions, that partnership becomes a force multiplier, enabling a small IT team to operate with capabilities that would otherwise be out of reach. The result is a more resilient institution that is better equipped to manage risk, support its mission, and adapt to an increasingly complex threat landscape.”

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