IT and Cybersecurity Modernization for a Liberal Arts College

Customer:

A small liberal arts college located in New York City.

Challenge:

Following a leadership transition that placed the IT department under the direction of a new CFO, the institution sought a full-scale evaluation of its IT infrastructure, cybersecurity posture, and organizational structure. College leadership needed a clear, actionable understanding of how to modernize and realign the IT function to better serve the institution’s academic and operational priorities.

IT and Cybersecurity Modernization for a Liberal Arts College

Our Approach:

Defensible conducted a structured and collaborative IT and cybersecurity assessment, including:

Document Review and Policy Analysis:

Evaluated existing documentation, policies, and system architectures.

Stakeholder Interviews:

Engaged with staff across departments to understand operational pain points, technology needs, and perceived risks.

Peer Benchmarking:

Compared IT resourcing, staffing, and security maturity against similarly sized academic institutions.

Controls-Based Evaluation:

Assessed the college’s cybersecurity posture using the CIS Controls framework, identifying critical gaps in incident response, identity management, and system hardening.

The Outcome:

Defensible delivered a comprehensive findings and recommendations report outlining:

Immediate steps to reduce cyber risk and modernize infrastructure
Strategic investments in cloud computing and identity/access management
A realigned IT organizational structure to improve service delivery and oversight
Clear roadmaps for short- and long-term improvement

Ongoing Partnership:

Armed with Defensible's guidance, the CFO and leadership team were able to:

Build stakeholder confidence in the IT department
Prioritize cybersecurity and infrastructure upgrades
Align IT investments with institutional goals and risk tolerance

This engagement helped the college transition from a reactive to proactive IT posture, supporting both operational resilience and the broader educational mission.