We Make Security Easy.
Because Your Mission Is Too Important for Security to Get in the Way.

Higher education institutions face a concentrated set of threats: ransomware, credential-based attacks, phishing campaigns targeting students and faculty, and data exfiltration targeting student records and research IP. What makes higher ed particularly vulnerable is the combination of high-value data, decentralized IT governance, and historically limited security investment.

Named ransomware groups—Interlock, Medusa, CL0P, LockBit, Royal—actively and repeatedly target the sector. Interlock alone grew its higher education attack volume by 750% in a single year (2024 to 2025). These are not opportunistic hits. They are targeted campaigns, planned around the academic calendar.

Managed Extended Detection and Response (MXDR) is an advanced managed security model that combines 24×7 SOC monitoring, expert threat hunting, and hands-on incident response across all major attack surfaces—identity, endpoint, email, cloud, and data. For higher education institutions that cannot staff, fund, or sustain an internal security operations center, MXDR closes the gap between what you’re licensed for and what you’re actually protected by.

Microsoft Verified MXDR is an additional certification that fewer than a handful of providers worldwide have earned. It requires continuous coverage and is validated by Microsoft’s own security engineering teams—not by the provider. Guardian 365 holds this designation.

FERPA requires that student education records remain private, secure, and accessible only to authorized individuals. A ransomware attack or data breach that exposes student records is not just a security incident—it is a FERPA violation with significant legal and reputational consequences.

Guardian 365 activates Microsoft Purview’s data classification and data loss prevention capabilities to enforce FERPA-aligned controls, monitoring continuously for unauthorized access or exfiltration of student data and providing the audit documentation required for compliance reporting. Our team understands the practical intersection of FERPA requirements, student health records, and third-party vendor access in academic environments.

In most cases, no. The majority of higher education institutions already hold Microsoft 365 A3 or A5 licenses that include Defender XDR, Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Entra ID, and Microsoft Purview. Guardian 365 activates and operates that technology—closing the gap between what you’ve licensed and what you’re actually protected by.

If an upgrade from A3 to A5 is appropriate, Microsoft’s published data shows an estimated 57% cost savings versus purchasing those security components separately. And Guardian 365 includes full A5 deployment in the annual subscription—no separate professional services engagement required.

Guardian 365 onboarding is designed for rapid time-to-protection—typically completing deployment and initial SOC coverage within weeks, not months. Every engagement begins with a comprehensive security assessment and Microsoft Secure Score baseline review, establishing a clear picture of current exposure before any configuration work begins.

Your internal IT team does not need to pause other priorities or develop new security specializations. Our engineers manage the full deployment, walk you through every configuration decision, and maintain the environment continuously from day one.

Building a genuine 24×7 security operations capability internally requires 8–12 specialists across disciplines—identity, endpoint, SIEM, threat hunting, incident response—at a combined cost of $1.5 million or more annually at current market rates. That assumes you can fill the positions, which most higher education institutions cannot given the 750,000+ unfilled cybersecurity roles in the U.S.

Guardian 365 delivers an equivalent capability at a predictable annual subscription price, with no hiring, no retention risk, and no gap in coverage. Contact us for pricing specific to your institution’s size and licensing baseline.

Three things distinguish Guardian 365: exclusive sector focus, Microsoft Verified MXDR designation, and an all-inclusive operational model that covers deployment, monitoring, and incident response in a single subscription.

Forsyte IT Solutions has spent more than 11 years working exclusively in the education and public sector. We understand decentralized governance, the academic calendar risk windows attackers exploit, research data classification requirements, shared services environments, and the budget realities of higher ed IT. That institutional knowledge is not a marketing claim—it is built into how we operate, how we configure your environment, and how we communicate with your leadership.