Provider of higher education management solutions, Ellucian, has begun offering a bundled, multi-layer defence software package that is complemented by best-practice services for Banner by Ellucian customers in higher educational institutions across the UK and Ireland.
Institutions store a wealth of private and personal data – payment information, financial aid records, grades, and intellectual property, all of which must be safeguarded under current UK legislation. A comprehensive approach to data protection is therefore required to secure valuable student, faculty and staff information.
Jonathan Dempsey, chief product officer, Ellucian, said: "Data security is a serious business problem that institutions are concerned about and need to address. Potentially they face fines of up to £500,000 if breaches occur.
"But configuring and implementing a robust defence solution that encrypts data doesn’t have to be complex; Ellucian has the knowledge to implement this multi-layered solution fully and with minimal disruption to users. Once implemented , the data security solutions are transparent to users and won’t hinder their day-to-day work activities."
The number of security breaches is on the rise. The 2013 Information Security Breaches Survey conducted by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills reveals that the cost of individual data breaches varied widely, but the average large business lost £450k – £850k as a result of their year’s worst security breach, with a number of breaches often combining to cost more than £1 million a year. Banner Data Defense is said to offer several layers of protection to help institutions protect data.
Ellucian’s Banner Data Defense uses Banner by Ellucian – its student information system – combined with Oracle Advanced Security transparent data encryption software and the recently-announced Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall product, to help ensure data privacy, protect against threats and maintain regulatory compliance.
The package is enhanced by Banner-specific database scripts, documentation and reports, installation and configuration scripts, and best-practice implementation advice from Ellucian’s services team.
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The solution is designed to encrypt application data such as sensitive personal information; to monitor database traffic, to detect and block threats; and to help improve compliance reporting by consolidating audit data from databases, operating systems, directories and other sources.
Oracle Advanced Security aims to help organisations comply with privacy and regulatory mandates by transparently encrypting all application data or specific sensitive columns, such as credit cards, social security numbers, or sensitive personal information. By encrypting data at rest and whenever it leaves the database over the network or via backups, Oracle Advanced Security provides a cost-effective solution in support of comprehensive data protection.
Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall look to provide a first line of protection for databases and consolidate audit data from databases, operating systems, directories, and more. An SQL grammar-based engine monitors and blocks unauthorised SQL traffic before it reaches the database. Database activity from the network is combined with audit data in an effort to provide easy compliance reporting and alerting.
