Acumen Cyber, a CREST accredited cyber security service firm, has launched SecureEd. The firm describes it as a service to protect the Higher and Further Education sector from cyber threats.
SecurEd is a purpose-built managed Security Operations Centre (SOC) service, created by Glasgow-based Acumen, with HEFESTIS, which offers data protection and related services for the education sector in Scotland. The SOC can be procured through sector-approved frameworks on a direct award basis. Offered on a fixed price basis is round-the-clock threat monitoring, detection and response besides access to Acumen’s security engineers.
The firm says that unlike traditional SOCs that are priced on log ingestion, per-user fees or data volume, SecurEd provides per-staff/faculty pricing with free student accounts included. The UK Government’s 2025 Cyber Security Breaches Survey suggested that some 85 per cent of colleges and 91pc of universities have suffered cyber attacks in the past year, which are levels comparable to the country’s largest enterprises. Yet, unlike businesses as large, universities and colleges may lack the resources and budgets to manage these escalating threats effectively.
As for the threat, the firm suggests that the Higher and Further Education (HFE) sector is uniquely exposed. Its open, accessible environments, which are supported by EdTech platforms, research partnerships and cloud providers, create multiple entry points for attackers. Meanwhile, the constant turnover of students, staff and contractors each year makes access management and endpoint security increasingly complex, leaving institutions facing threats, and compliance pressures.
Mark Robertson, CEO at Acumen Cyber, said: “SecurEd has been created to protect the complex and diverse environments of universities and colleges. Over the past year we’ve worked closely with the sector, building partnerships with a number of institutions, including West Lothian College, Edinburgh Napier University, Heriot-Watt University and Ayrshire College. Their insights have helped us design a service that removes the unpredictability of cost, eases the pressure on internal teams and delivers the enterprise-level protection the sector needs, with pricing that’s affordable and predictable.”
The 24/7 UK-based, CREST-accredited SOC is staffed entirely by security engineers. Every incident is managed end-to-end, from detection to resolution, which eliminates handoffs, reduces delays and provides measurable outcomes with a true partnership approach. Acumen says that while other service providers offer managed security services to the sector, they are often generic rather than tailored and do not take into consideration the specifics of Higher and Further Education. Costs may be unpredictable, and alerts may be handed back to internal teams to resolve, it’s claimed.
Brian Henderson, CEO of HEFESTIS said: “Many providers offer one-size-fits-all security, but that doesn’t work for universities or colleges facing unique environments and budget pressures. SecurEd is different. Pricing is transparent and predictable, customers are offered market leading technology platforms and security is enhanced through Acumen’s security engineers’ expertise, who act as an extension to internal teams, so they can focus on what matters most.”
JISC date
Meanwhile the body that offers IT services to education, JISC, is running its Security Conference 2025 on November 25 and 26 at Manchester Central and online. Visit https://jisc.ac.uk/security-conference.
