Texas A&M, with its treasure trove of sensitive and critical data, is an attractive target to cyber criminals. To protect the campus’ valuable information, the Division of Information Technology’s Spirion Data Loss Prevention (DLP) platform scans over 7.8 billion files each month.

The scans detect Personally Identifiable Information (PII) such as social security numbers, bank account information and credit card details. When PII is located, campus members are notified and given the option to remove or encrypt the data. This prevents data from being accessed or used maliciously and ensures compliance with state regulations.

Chief Information Security Officer Michael Sadaryzadeh says Mays Business School collaborated with the division to create a best practices document to help campus members use the tool.

“Mays has been a great partner in this effort,” says Sadaryzadeh. “Our work together will result in a safer digital campus!”

Currently, over 7,500 endpoints – or devices connected to the campus network – are being monitored by the DLP platform. Twenty divisions, colleges and groups across campus – including the Division of Finance and the Division of Student Affairs – currently use the tool. In the past month, over 7 million alerts were generated.