Respond Software and Norwich University Defend NCAA College Football Playoff Championship

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan. 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On Monday, January 7, 2019, the Clemson Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide faced off for one of the largest sporting events in the country, the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) fifth National Championship game of the College Football Playoffs. As with any large-scale public event, the game also made the stadium, its sponsors and the nearly 75,000 attendees potential targets for malicious cyber activity. In a first-of-its-kind partnership at a major stadium event, cybersecurity students from Norwich University's Applied Research Institute (NUARI) and the stadium security professionals teamed with Respond Software's A.I.-based decision automation software, the Respond Analyst, to defend during the big game. 

The cybersecurity team monitored, analyzed and resolved over 243,000 monitored events and threats during game day.

While the players compiled impressive game stats on the field, the Norwich students, who huddled in the stadium's state-of-the-art Security Situation Center, produced notable stats themselves:

• Respond Analyst processed over 243,000 monitored events, decided 200,097 required deeper investigation, diagnosed 431 as malicious and prioritized 13 as needing immediate attention, escalating those to the Norwich University counterparts.
• Norwich University students further investigated advanced threats and mitigated over 13 that targeted the stadium to deliver an uninterrupted, unforgettable game day experience.
• Every large sporting event should be monitored and analyzed for security but there are never enough people to cover it all. The Respond Analyst did the equivalent work of over 125 human analysts during the live event. Human analysts would have the bandwidth to analyze 14,000 events in the same time period, or 6 percent of the total that was covered by the Respond Analyst.

"Protecting an event of this scale is no easy feat and near impossible with people alone," said Mike Armistead, CEO, Respond Software. "Norwich's trained cybersecurity students expertly leveraged Respond's technology to ensure the event was safeguarded against security breaches."

"Our trained cybersecurity students were invigorated by the game day energy and worked around the clock to ensure every staffer, fan and player was protected against cyberthreats throughout the College Playoffs, all with the support of Respond's cutting-edge software," said Phil Susmann, VP of Strategic Partnerships, Norwich University. "This is one of many initiatives we look to support alongside Respond as part of our new partnership that will develop our students' cybersecurity competencies with hands-on experience."

To learn more about how Respond Software and Norwich University are partnering on continued cybersecurity initiatives, please visit: https://respond-software.com/company/pr/norwich-university-cybersecurity-program-partners-with-respond-software/

About Respond Software
Respond Software delivers instant return on investment (ROI) to organizations in their battle against cyber-crime. With its patented intelligent decision engine, PGO®, Respond Software's product uniquely combines the best of human expert judgement with the scale and consistency of software. Our quick-to-implement cyber-security automation software delivers the equivalent of a virtual, best-of-breed analyst team that dramatically increases capacity and improves monitoring and triage capabilities at a fraction of the cost. Respond Software was founded in 2016 by security and software industry veterans. https://respond-software.com/     

About Norwich University's Cyber Conflict Research Institute
Ranked #2 by the Ponemon Institute for cybersecurity in the U.S., Norwich programs are consistently ranked among the best in the nation for cybersecurity education. Norwich is recognized as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and has received designation as a Center of Digital Forensics Academic Excellence (CDFAE) by the Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3). Beginning in 2002, Norwich became a member of what is now called National Science Foundation's Cyber Corps: Scholarship for Service program. Norwich is partnered with the United States Army Reserves (USAR) to develop cyber-education curricula that align with federal standards and cybersecurity needs. Most recently Norwich's online graduate program was named one of the top ten best cybersecurity graduate programs in the country by Universities.com. Norwich is also home to GenCyber@NU, a National Security Agency and National Science Foundation-funded cybersecurity camp for high school students.

About Norwich
Norwich is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in Baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees. Norwich was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army and is the oldest private military college in the United States of America. Norwich is one of our nation's six senior military colleges and the birthplace of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC). www.norwich.edu

SOURCE Respond Software