SecurEd
The Managed SOC Service for Higher and Further Education
Managed SOC, tailored for colleges and universities
Powered by Acumen Cyber In Collaboration with HEFESTIS
Full Security Stack. Fixed Price. Full Protection. Built for Education.
Challenges facing higher and further education
57 % of UK higher education institutions suffered a cyber breach that had a negative impact on them in the last 12 months.” GOV.UK *
The Higher and Further Education sector sits at the intersection of knowledge, innovation, and collaboration. But this very openness, coupled with constrained resources, makes it one of the most attractive and vulnerable sectors for cyber attackers today. Universities and Colleges face a perfect storm: escalating threats, compliance obligations, and limited budgets to address them.
Some reasons why Further and Higher Education are exposed
- Rising attack volumes – From ransomware and credential theft to insider risks, the number and severity of attacks targeting the sector continues to increase.
- High-value research – Universities hold sensitive intellectual property in life sciences, defence, and emerging technology, making them attractive to state-sponsored groups and organised crime.
- Expanded attack surfaces – Constant connections with EdTech platforms, research collaborators, and cloud providers mean there are more doors open to attackers.
- Open culture vs. security – Academic values of openness and accessibility often clash with security best practice, leaving exploitable entry points.
- Identity churn – Every year brings waves of new students, staff, and contractors, complicating access management and endpoint hygiene.
Operational challenges
- Resource constraints – Most institutions lack the budget or people to build an effective 24/7 Security Operations Centre. Attempts to do so often create single points of failure and coverage gaps.
- Compliance pressures – GDPR, CAF, research IP protection, and increasing regulatory scrutiny add another layer of complexity.
- Shadow IT – Departments and researchers can adopt their own tools outside central IT oversight, creating blind spots and fragmented visibility.
- Delayed response – Limited security teams, often stretched thin, struggle to detect and respond quickly enough to reduce impact.
The result is a sector facing systemic risk: one breach away from financial and reputational damage, operational disruption and in some cases, loss of critical research.
Introducing SecurEd
SecurEd is a purpose-built managed Security Operations Centre (SOC) service, created by Acumen Cyber in collaboration with HEFESTIS, the not-for-profit shared services organisation supporting Higher and Further Education.
Together we have combined Acumen’s CREST-accredited, engineering-led SOC with HEFESTIS’ unique role as the customer’s voice, ensuring that SecurEd not only delivers operational excellence but also remains strategically aligned to the evolving priorities of universities and colleges.
This is a shared-service model with a difference: enterprise-grade cyber defence backed by collective sector insight, delivered in a way that is predictable, affordable, and tailored to the realities of Higher and Further Education.
What SecurEd provides
Cyber outcomes that matter
Sector-specific threat intelligence enriched with real-world incident data from across the community and beyond.
Collective defence through shared insights that accelerate detection and response.
Joint service reviews driven by HEFESTIS to ensure continuous improvement and alignment with sector needs.
Fixed, predictable pricing – no hidden costs, no surprises.
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