Longwood U Upgrades Security Awareness Training System

Longwood University has gone public with an upgrade it performed over the summer to the application that delivers security awareness training on campus. The university has been using Managed Ongoing Awareness and Trust (MOAT) from Awareity since 2006. In July 2010 the Farmville, VA institution upgraded to Enhanced Vault, a version of MOAT that provides alerts to campus faculty and staff based on their specific roles at the school.

The new version allows Longwood to upload materials related to security training, such as training presentations, policies, procedures, videos, and maps--into a central storage location and then communicate the addition of the digital documents to specific users as updates and changes are made. The program also lets administrators of MOAT ask customized true-false or multiple-choice questions to test user understanding and acknowledgement.

The university requires staff to take cyber security awareness training annually to learn about topics that include malware, spam, phishing, and identity theft, as well as compliance regulations for FERPA and HIPAA. MOAT tracks compliance with that policy, notifies staff on a regular basis when it's overdue and until it has been completed, and provides progress reporting and documentation.

"The HIPAA training ensures that we get our annual training on HIPAA for the faculty and graduate students in clinical programs that must adhere to HIPAA requirements," said Lissa Power-deFur, director of the Longwood Center for Communication, Literacy, and Learning.

The MOAT Enhanced Vault also provides access to new reporting capabilities that allow staff and students to file confidential reports on campus incidents. The threat assessment, incident management, and prevention service (TIPS) automatically notifies appropriate threat assessment team members or staff and tracks follow-up activities.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • soft-edged digital blocks and AI imagery on a muted background

    OpenAI Launches GPT-4.1 with Upgrades in Coding, Context Processing, Efficiency

    OpenAI has announced GPT-4.1, offering stronger performance across software development, instruction following, and long-context comprehension.

  •  laptop on a clean desk with digital padlock icon on the screen

    Study: Data Privacy a Top Concern as Orgs Scale Up AI Agents

    As organizations race to integrate AI agents into their cloud operations and business workflows, they face a crucial reality: while enthusiasm is high, major adoption barriers remain, according to a new Cloudera report. Chief among them is the challenge of safeguarding sensitive data.

  • glowing digital brain made of blue circuitry hovers above multiple stylized clouds of interconnected network nodes against a dark, futuristic background

    Report: 85% of Organizations Are Using Some Form of AI

    Eighty-five percent of organizations today are leveraging some form of AI, according to the latest State of AI in the Cloud 2025 report from Wiz. While AI's role in innovation and disruption continues to expand, security vulnerabilities and governance challenges remain pressing concerns.

  • abstract geometric pattern of glowing interconnected triangles, hexagons, and circles in blue, gold, and white, spread across a dark navy-to-black gradient background

    OpenAI Unveils 'Operator' AI for Performing Web Tasks

    OpenAI has launched "Operator," an AI agent designed to perform web-based tasks autonomously using its own browser. Currently available as a research preview for Pro users in the United States, the tool aims to automate everyday activities such as filling out forms, ordering groceries, and even creating memes.