College Overview
MidCoast Christian College serves the regional community with a genuine Christian and strong community focus. The college has established itself as a leading educational institution in the MidCoast region in NSW, with recent website and brand guidelines that emphasise community connection throughout its educational approach. As part of their strategic commitment to cybersecurity excellence, the college partnered with Digipro IT to implement industry-leading threat detection capabilities that protect sensitive student, staff and parent information.
The Cybersecurity Gap Challenge
The College had developed a solid IT foundation over many years. A recent Education Security Assessment (ESA) highlighted the strategic value of adopting 24/7 threat monitoring and enhanced incident response capabilities to strengthen its cybersecurity posture.
The Assessment identified opportunities to improve detection and response maturity, enabling greater visibility across its technology environment. By taking a proactive approach, the College could safeguard student data, maintain operational continuity, and remain aligned with evolving regulatory expectations.
“We had been discussing how we could strengthen our cybersecurity posture, and the assessment gave us the roadmap we needed to move forward confidently with implementing a world-class security solution,” explains Adam Birkefeld, Business Manager.
The College required a solution capable of delivering 24/7 enterprise-grade security monitoring while accommodating the unique operational patterns of a regional school. This included effectively managing alerts during and after school hours and distinguishing typical activity from behaviour that may indicate a security concern.
The Solution: Digipro IT ThreatDefence Implementation
MidCoast Christian College selected the ThreatDefence solution through Digipro IT after evaluating several security providers. The decision was reinforced by the platform’s comprehensive capabilities, which the College leadership had previously observed at industry conferences, including its education-specific features designed for school environments.
Key factors that distinguished Digipro IT partnership with ThreatDefence included:
- 24/7 monitoring with immediate threat sandboxing and pre-approved remediation processes
- Comprehensive initial security assessment identifying existing vulnerabilities
- Visual dashboard reporting suitable for board level communications
- Education sector expertise understanding school operational patterns
- Integration with critical infrastructure, including servers, end user fleet, Microsoft 365 and FortiGate.
The implementation was completed within two weeks from contract signing to first alert generation, supported by Digipro IT’s technical expertise to ensure minimal operational disruption during the deployment phase.
“The 24/7 monitoring capability and the sandbox feature where they immediately isolate suspicious accounts and seek approval before taking action – those were the two capabilities that really stood out to me,” notes Birkefeld.
Immediate Impact and Operational Benefits
The new security platform delivered immediate visibility into previously unknown security events. Within the first month, “impossible travel” alerts revealed critical infrastructure gaps, including students using VPNs on the visitor network to bypass content filtering and access unrestricted internet content.
The solution introduced comprehensive dashboards for daily monitoring of the College’s security posture, supported by automated escalation to Digipro IT if alerts are not actioned within 30 minutes. This created a robust incident response framework that operates effectively during school hours while also providing after-hours coverage.
Operational improvements included:
Proactive threat detection that rapidly identified security gaps.
Streamlined incident response through designated staff handling different alert types .
Enhanced visibility into data movement and user activity patterns.
Board-ready reporting demonstrating the effectiveness of security investments.
Reduced security management overhead through consolidated monitoring.
“We’re now getting alerts on security events we weren’t aware of previously,” explains Birkefeld. “Having visibility into these activities has been one of the most valuable outcomes from this implementation.”
Ongoing Strategic Partnership
The implementation of the security solution has shifted MidCoast Christian College’s cybersecurity posture from reactive to proactive, establishing a strong foundation for the College’s three-year security maturity roadmap. The ThreatDefence platform directly supports the College’s broader security improvement strategy, delivering measurable improvements in incident response capability, visibility, and overall security awareness.
The College now has comprehensive visibility across its technology environment, allowing more informed decisions about data protection, user behaviour management, and long-term security investment. Regular reporting and demonstrated threat detection have also increased board confidence in the College’s cybersecurity readiness.
Looking ahead, the College is continuing to advance through its roadmap, with further initiatives now underway. These next steps are strengthened by the monitoring capability and operational foundations established through the College’s partnership with Digipro IT.
“Being able to access these security insights is fantastic,” concludes Birkefeld. “We definitely have much better visibility and confidence in our cybersecurity posture today compared to where we were before.”
