News

Radford U Replaces Instructor-Led Security Training with Awareity SaaS-Based Program

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 10/19/09

Radford University in Radford, VA has implemented a safety and security training program from Awareity. Managed Ongoing Awareness & Trust (MOAT) encompasses security modules as well as tracking and reporting that enables the institution to document who has taken the training. At Radford, which has about 9,500 students, that includes faculty, employees, supervisors, vendors, contractors, and suppliers. The goal of the training is to help faculty, staff, and external participants better understand their roles and responsibilities and comply with new and updated regulations. MOAT also delivers specific and situational awareness to improve overall campus preparedness.

MOAT modules being used by Radford U cover cyber security risks; viruses, spyware, crimeware, and bots; Internet safety; e-mail and password security, information disposal, mobile device usage, and identity theft. The training programs, which are customized to the role of the participant, are tracked and documented so administrators can generate reports on preparedness metrics.

According to Jackie McNabb, director of enterprise systems, the university chose MOAT to fulfill audit requirements mandating that the entire campus be trained by the end of the year. The previous system, she said, involved instructor-led training. When that instructor left the university, "We weren't sure how long it was going to take to replace him, so we decided that MOAT could get us to where we needed to be with our security awareness program."

Besides cyber security, MOAT modules also cover campus safety and emergency preparedness, incident reporting, pandemic flu planning, ethics, and compliance, among other topics.