Boise State University’s Cyberdome Program Soars in First Year of Operation

The Cyberdome uses Stellar Cyber’s Open XDR platform to bring free, world-class cybersecurity services to Idaho cities, counties and schools while giving students real-world experience.

Boise State University and Stellar Cyber, the innovator of Open XDR, reported that during its first year of operation, the Cyberdome initiative – a competency development program from Boise State’s Institute for Pervasive Cybersecurity – has been highly successful for cybersecurity students and thousands of rural end users in schools, cities and counties across Idaho.

Under the Cyberdome program, Stellar Cyber provides its Open XDR platform to the Institute for Pervasive Cybersecurity, which enables Idaho students to gain hands-on work experience by providing cybersecurity services to rural Idaho districts, counties and cities. Now, higher education institutions from other states have begun joining the Cyberdome program.

“We’ve had a phenomenal year,” said Edward Vasko, director of Boise State’s Institute for Pervasive Cybersecurity. “We’ve partnered with other colleges in our state, and there are now dozens of Idaho students certified on using the Stellar Cyber platform. On the customer side of the program, we have entered into a pilot program with the Idaho Digital Learning Association’s Rural Education team, and we’re piloting efforts with them to eventually monitor as many as two dozen school districts, helping them improve their cybersecurity.”

The Cyberdome is mutually beneficial for Idaho students and clients - comprising rural Idaho K-12 school districts, rural counties with election system security, and critical rural city systems that support water and electric districts. Many Idaho organizations have limited budgets to hire cybersecurity professionals, increasing the chance of a cybersecurity attack going unnoticed.

“The Cyberdome has provided resources and information we have not been able to afford ourselves being a small college, “ said Marty Gang, Chief Technology Officer for Lewis-Clark State College, a Cyberdome client. “We have not been able to access a lot of expensive equipment and software, and Cyberdome has provided access to a large number of good resources. Being provided insight into activities on our network that we didn’t have visibility into before has been very useful.”

Between January and July of 2023, Cyberdome students monitored over 5,000 assets, analyzed over 53,000 possible attacks, and notified clients of 350 potential real-time attacks. Cyberdome staff and student workers are able to monitor systems for clients, ensuring that Idaho communities and school districts have the information they need to stay secure.

“The Cyberdome has been tremendous. It’s been a premium product being offered as a critically needed service, especially for the K-12 space,” said Dan Smith, Technology Director and IETA Region 2 Representative for the Kendrick Joint School District 283, a Cyberdome client. “We absolutely need this, especially for smaller districts. It’s amazing to see that it’s actually here and available. We now have this overarching product and support system in place that is actually looking out for us.”

Vasko highlighted the unique working relationship between the Boise State University and Stellar Cyber, and Stellar Cyber as an educational resource for students. “Through our relationship with Stellar Cyber, our team provides feedback about product enhancements, providing our students with first-hand knowledge of the technology provider market. Stellar Cyber enables our students like no other technology partner,” Vasko said. “Our students take Stellar Cyber’s training and emerge fully certified on the platform. That’s something we don’t have with any other security solution, but it’s critical – not only for us, but for any MSSP – because it enables employees to be much more productive security analysts.”

Stellar Cyber’s Open XDR platform is uniquely suited as the basic resource for the Cyberdome program. The solution’s dashboard is highly intuitive, and its AI-driven analytics quickly identify anomalies to make students much more productive.

“There’s a huge shortage of cybersecurity analysts worldwide, and through our partnership in Boise State University’s Cyberdome program, we’re helping address that issue,” said Jim O’Hara, Chief Revenue Officer at Stellar Cyber. “We knew this program would be a hit, and it’s a model that can be applied to any geography.”

Cyberdome students' internships are provided by grants from the Idaho Global Entrepreneurship Mission’s Higher Education Research Council (IGEM-HERC) and Idaho’s Workforce Development Council.

About Boise State University

Boise State provides an innovative, transformative, and equitable educational environment that prepares students for success and advances Idaho and the world. Serving more than 32,000 students annually, Boise State is proud to be powered by creativity and innovation, receiving national recognition as one of the most innovative universities in the country. Located in Idaho’s capital city, the university has a growing research agenda and plays a crucial role in the region’s knowledge economy and famed quality of life. In the past 10 years, the university has quadrupled the number of doctoral degrees and doubled its master's degree offerings. Learn more at BoiseState.edu.

About Stellar Cyber

Stellar Cyber’s Open XDR Platform delivers comprehensive, unified security without complexity, empowering lean security teams of any skill level to secure their environments successfully. With Stellar Cyber, organizations reduce risk with early and precise identification and remediation of threats while slashing costs, retaining investments in existing tools, and improving analyst productivity, delivering an 8X improvement in MTTD and a 20X improvement in MTTR. For more information, visit https://stellarcyber.ai.

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