Southeastern University Strengthens Data Security for Secure AI Adoption
See how Southeastern University used Lightbeam to discover sensitive data, reduce risky access, improve visibility across 180+ TB of data, and build a stronger foundation for secure AI adoption.
Southeastern University Protects Student Data and Privacy, While Building the Foundation for Secure AI Adoption
Southeastern University needed better visibility into where sensitive student and operational data lived, who it belonged to, and who could access it. With Lightbeam, SEU gained identity-centric visibility across 180+ TB of data, reduced risky exposure, strengthened its data security foundation, and created the guardrails needed to support secure AI adoption.
Transcript
So before LightBeam, we were just shooting in the dark.
We didn't really know what was out there.
Before LightBeam, we were just using built-in functionality and stuff like
Google Workspace to try to find it, but we didn't really know what was there.
LightBeam was able to help us discover it and identify the sensitive data so we
know exactly where it is.
We connected LightBeam to a lot of our cloud data sources, so that would include
Google, Microsoft, as well as our on-prem environment for our file servers.
The process with implementing LightBeam was actually pretty easy.
So as far as our data goes, one of the things that we need to focus on, the
entity feature within LightBeam, it's pretty important because then we can identify
all the personnel as well as students and applicants and the data that we've
gathered on them and being able to separate them, identify what sensitive data
belongs to each entity.
So being able to map the entity to the sensitive data, there is a data breach,
we're able to go in and see exactly who that data breach impacts.
Instead of assuming that it's the entire SEU community, we're able to say it's
these 10 people. Work with them to ensure that their data is secure.
So as far as access, one of the most valuable aspects as part of our discovery is
identifying open access links that people aren't even aware of, especially in our
cloud environments. So we're able to identify the open access and just shut it
off.
LightBeam's really out there, not only looking for keywords and patterns like some
other data security platforms, it's actually able to see your data and get context
on it. And what we found is that it's able to have a lot more true positives
whenever it does find sensitive data, because it's not just focusing on keywords or
patterns with numbers. When it comes to AI use at SEU, we encourage the use of
it. We see a lot of opportunities with AI to help our operations staff help
automate repetitive tasks so that they can focus on supporting our students.
What we want to make sure we're able to do is protect our data against AI use that
we don't necessarily want to have access to.
So if we want to restrict sensitive data, have the ability to identify it, and put
policies in place that don't allow that solution to access it, but maybe access
other information that will help automate tasks or analyze data.
If I had to describe the value that LightBeam has given SEU, I would say in one
word, just visibility. And whenever it comes to data security, that's foundational.
Without the visibility to know where your data is, what sensitive information you
have out there, you don't have anything to go off of.
I would say that the value that LightBeam has given us is just immense, and that
it's going to allow us to do so much more in protecting our students and our
community.
We didn't really know what was out there.
Before LightBeam, we were just using built-in functionality and stuff like
Google Workspace to try to find it, but we didn't really know what was there.
LightBeam was able to help us discover it and identify the sensitive data so we
know exactly where it is.
We connected LightBeam to a lot of our cloud data sources, so that would include
Google, Microsoft, as well as our on-prem environment for our file servers.
The process with implementing LightBeam was actually pretty easy.
So as far as our data goes, one of the things that we need to focus on, the
entity feature within LightBeam, it's pretty important because then we can identify
all the personnel as well as students and applicants and the data that we've
gathered on them and being able to separate them, identify what sensitive data
belongs to each entity.
So being able to map the entity to the sensitive data, there is a data breach,
we're able to go in and see exactly who that data breach impacts.
Instead of assuming that it's the entire SEU community, we're able to say it's
these 10 people. Work with them to ensure that their data is secure.
So as far as access, one of the most valuable aspects as part of our discovery is
identifying open access links that people aren't even aware of, especially in our
cloud environments. So we're able to identify the open access and just shut it
off.
LightBeam's really out there, not only looking for keywords and patterns like some
other data security platforms, it's actually able to see your data and get context
on it. And what we found is that it's able to have a lot more true positives
whenever it does find sensitive data, because it's not just focusing on keywords or
patterns with numbers. When it comes to AI use at SEU, we encourage the use of
it. We see a lot of opportunities with AI to help our operations staff help
automate repetitive tasks so that they can focus on supporting our students.
What we want to make sure we're able to do is protect our data against AI use that
we don't necessarily want to have access to.
So if we want to restrict sensitive data, have the ability to identify it, and put
policies in place that don't allow that solution to access it, but maybe access
other information that will help automate tasks or analyze data.
If I had to describe the value that LightBeam has given SEU, I would say in one
word, just visibility. And whenever it comes to data security, that's foundational.
Without the visibility to know where your data is, what sensitive information you
have out there, you don't have anything to go off of.
I would say that the value that LightBeam has given us is just immense, and that
it's going to allow us to do so much more in protecting our students and our
community.
