Nominum and CIRA Create “Cyber-Secure Schools” Initiative to Bring Powerful Cyber Protections to Schools Throughout Canada

Nominum™, an innovator of internet security solutions and services, and the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), announced today that they have joined forces to deliver a powerful, cost-effective cloud security solution to K-12 schools, school boards and higher education institutions across Canada through a collaborative “Cyber-Secure Schools” initiative.

The Cyber-Secure Schools program aims to reduce malware risk, improve network performance and create safe online learning environments for teachers, students and administrators – as well as every device connected to the school network – through CIRA’s D-Zone DNS firewall powered by Nominum N2™ Secure Business.

Nominum and CIRA are already seeing rapid adoption of D-Zone by school boards across Canada, given the significant costs associated with cyberattacks, budget constraints, and the need for solutions that are easy to implement and manage. For example, the Wild Rose School Division in Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, has deployed the solution to protect its users from increasing incidents of ransomware and phishing attacks they see on their networks.

“Our district has a mobile-first strategy, driven by technology and learning strategies that are moving education beyond the classroom. Because of this, it’s critical that our network blocks malware and malicious content so students and teachers remain protected, no matter where they are,” said Jaymon Lefebvre, Director, IT Services for Wild Rose School Division. “This requires effective security that dynamically scales to meet growing demands and policy changes. The Nominum-CIRA Cyber-Secure Schools initiative and cloud security solution they provide ensures that the entire Wild Rose community is safeguarded from today’s dangerous threats.”

“Less than half of zero-day malware is detected by traditional anti-virus solutions, and since most malware uses DNS for command and control, our combined solution is an ideal first line of defense that complements any company’s security solution against emerging threats,” said Dave Chiswell, Vice President of Product Development for CIRA. “Through our partnership with Nominum we are delivering a better, more secure internet to schools and businesses throughout Canada, giving students, teachers and administrative staff assurances that educational activities taking place online are safe.”

Education Sector Hit Hardest by Ransomware, Driving the Need for Better Cybersecurity

U.S. government statistics show that the rate of ransomware attacks tripled in 2016 over 2015.¹ Specifically, research conducted by the security ratings firm BitSight showed that ransomware strikes the education sector more than any other, with one in 10 schools having been hit with malware on their networks.²

“With cybercrime on the rise and schools facing budget and resource limitations, they are particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks that could cause long-term financial and operational damage,” said Arlen Frew, General Manager, Security Solutions for Nominum. “In today’s Digital Age, with more instruction and learning taking place online, it’s critical that schools have a powerful security infrastructure to keep students, teachers and other users protected. CIRA and Nominum are delivering enterprise-class security in a cost-effective solution that requires little hands-on maintenance – a combination that is missing from the education security marketplace.”

N2 Secure Business: Protecting SMBs in an Easily Managed Cloud Solution

Nominum N2 Secure Business is a ground-breaking cloud-based security solution that enables managed services providers like CIRA, as well as ISPs and telecom operators, to deliver a white-label security-as-a-service (SECaaS) solution to schools, government agencies and small and medium-sized business (SMB) customers. N2 Secure Business is quickly creating new revenue streams for these providers, which are now able to offer enterprise-class security in a solution that is ideally suited for the education sector from a cost and ease of management perspective.

The solution utilizes Nominum’s global DNS footprint and near real-time threat intelligence stream to discover and automatically block users from connecting to malicious domains and fills a critical market need for protection from ransomware, phishing and other malware in an easily managed solution that is suited to a small business budget. The technology also allows for simple management of content blocking, a requirement to ensure students in the K-12 environment are offered a safe and secure online experience.

N2-powered D-Zone DNS Firewall: The Ideal Hands-off Solution for K-12 and Higher Education Schools

The D-Zone DNS Firewall locates the technology in Canadian Internet Exchange Points to deliver a very high-performance recursive service, keep query data in Canada, help move more traffic onto low-cost, or free education and research networks and provide higher security. The Cyber-Secure Schools program further benefits schools by providing licensing models that recognizes the different user in a school board environment. And finally, schools (and businesses) can create, modify and grant different levels of access to content for students based on age-appropriate safe browsing polices.

About CIRA

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) manages the .CA top-level domain on behalf of all Canadians. CIRA also develops technologies and services that help support its goal of building a better online Canada. CIRA’s D-Zone Anycast DNS provides is the most comprehensive Canadian DNS solution available on the market, helping to improve security and performance for Canadian organizations. The CIRA team operates one of the fastest growing ccTLDs, a high-performance global DNS network, and one of the world’s most advanced back-end registry solutions. CIRA helps to support the Canadian Internet community through investments in Internet Exchange Points, the Canada Internet Forum, and the CIRA Community Investment Program.

About Nominum

Nominum™ is a pioneer and global leader in internet security and services innovation. The Silicon Valley company provides an integrated suite of carrier-grade DNS-based solutions that enable fixed and mobile operators, and managed services and web application providers to protect and enhance their networks, strengthen security for business and residential subscribers and offer innovative value-added services that can be monetized. The result is improved service agility, higher ARPU, increased brand loyalty and a strong competitive advantage. More than 130 service providers in over 40 countries trust Nominum to deliver a safe, customizable internet and promote greater value to over half a billion users. Nominum DNS software resolves 1.7 trillion queries around the globe every day—roughly 100 times more transactions than the combined daily volume of tweets, likes, and searches taking place on major web properties. For more information visit nominum.com.

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¹ https://malware.news/t/ransomware-attacks-increase-300-in-2016/10347

² http://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/education-now-suffers-the-most-ransomware-attacks-/d/d-id/1326960

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Contact information

Nominum™
Nancy MacGregor, +1-415-309-5185
PR Director
nancy.macgregor@nominum.com