The management of Mid Coast Connect had attended Integer IT’s Cyber Security presentation at Charles Sturt University and were keen to explore ways to protect their operation and employees from future IT security threats.

Integer carried out an IT Audit to fully understand the existing IT infrastructure which subsequently produced an initial view of where the security posture could be improved. It also highlighted the age of their existing IT hardware and software to help budgeting for future required upgrades and to ensure they remain within a supportable IT environment.

Integer’s recommendations were embraced with the immediate activation of email filtering and installation of a Sophos firewall as well as onboarding Mid Coast Connect to a managed service agreement. Integer then deployed support agents to monitor and regularly install security software patches and regularly update users’ devices.

We then planned a project to decommission the on-premise server running Microsoft Server 2012 which was becoming end of life to Azure AD and SharePoint. This activity enforced the roll out of MFA to secure the Microsoft environment and for Mid Coast Connect to back up critical emails and SharePoint sites.

Through regular reviews we identified taking control of Mobile applications (iPad/iPhones) was problematic, which was resolved by applying for an Apple Buisness ID for the business and creating application containers with Sophos Mobile Device Management to centralise support and control application usage on mobile devices.

Mid Coast Connect have taken control of their IT environment and enhanced their security posture aligned to the recommendations of the Australian Cyber Security Centres’ Essential Eight guidelines. Mid Coast Connect’s management has proactively identified and sought assistance to mitigate their IT related risks. The business has operationally become fully cloud enabled within a secure framework to maximise flexibility from an agile IT environment.

Jenny Fraser, Chief Executive Officer, Mid Coast Connect:

Integer has been exceptionally supportive and professional in their work with Mid Coast Connect. Integer took the time to understand our business and navigated us through a whole range of transitions in the way that we operated. Having a proactive managed service has helped us mitigate potential problems that could have caused a great deal of heartache. Nothing has been too much trouble and we’ve been very comfortable in asking all of our questions. We feel confident that Integer will support us into the future and recommend their services to other not for profit organisations.

Garry King, Managing Director at Integer:

It’s been a pleasure to work with the Jenny and her team, who had a clear objective of how they wanted to transform their organisation away from a server centric environment. Together we worked through several mini projects over a 9-month period with regular service review meetings to reduce risk, control future applications usage and decommission the server whist leveraging Microsoft’s Not Profit licensing for Azure AD Sync and SharePoint.