One-person security team
A single analyst responsible for security monitoring, compliance, scanning, and remediation coordination across three campuses.
University Vulnerability Scanning Transformation
From manual scanning and patch fatigue to automated prioritisation and measurable risk reduction.
Overview
A major New England university with physical and online campuses needed to strengthen its vulnerability management programme. With regulatory requirements such as HIPAA/HITECH and FERPA, and increasing pressure to secure sensitive student, faculty, and staff data, the university’s security team struggled to keep pace using manual vulnerability scanning tools.
The security lead — a single analyst responsible for security across multiple campuses — needed automation, better prioritisation, and a system that would help IT teams take action quickly. Cyber Defence assisted the university in evaluating, implementing, and optimising a modern vulnerability management platform that reduced workload, improved patching discipline, and delivered measurable time savings.
Challenge
The limitations of manual scanning
Manual Nessus scanning
Quarterly scans required heavy manual effort, produced limited prioritisation, and struggled to scale as asset counts grew. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}
No actionable prioritisation
Findings were categorised only as high, medium, or low, without context or guidance — leading to patching fatigue and inconsistent remediation.
Operational pressures
The university needed a scanning programme that would:
• satisfy HIPAA/HITECH, FERPA, and state regulatory expectations
• keep pace with growing infrastructure and virtual assets
• provide ad-hoc scanning of new systems before production use
• identify high-impact vulnerabilities quickly
• reduce manual workload for both security and IT support teams :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
The existing tooling could not support these needs, forcing the security analyst to manually prepare each scan, break down asset groups, research patches individually, and convince IT teams to prioritise findings with limited context.
Analysis
Why the existing approach failed
Scaling limitations
Nessus struggled to scan large asset sets, requiring manual segmentation. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}
Inefficient remediation workflow
Security lacked a way to show IT teams which issues mattered most, leading to stalled patching efforts.
High research overhead
IT teams spent hours researching patches manually — delaying remediation and sometimes skipping critical fixes. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}
Our intervention
Cyber Defence worked with the university to evaluate options and build a business justification for moving to a more advanced vulnerability management platform.
By mapping the manual processes being performed by security and IT — asset discovery, scan setup, prioritisation, patch research — we demonstrated the time savings of automated prioritisation and continuous scanning.
The case for migration became undeniable when the analysis showed:
• 140 hours saved per cycle through automated prioritisation alone :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}
• 10+ hours saved in manual asset discovery and reporting each month
With clear operational and financial justification, the university secured internal approval for the transition.
Solution
What we implemented
Continuous asset discovery
Automated identification of on-prem, cloud, and virtual systems ensured no assets were overlooked.
Automated vulnerability prioritisation
Risk-based scoring allowed both security and IT teams to focus on the vulnerabilities that mattered most.
Context-rich remediation reports
Actionable remediation guidance eliminated manual research time and improved patching confidence.
Support for targeted scanning
Ad-hoc scanning of new systems before deployment, ensuring they were free of high-risk vulnerabilities.
Streamlined collaboration
Security could now provide prioritised, actionable remediation lists — accelerating IT operations.
Results
Operational improvements
Massive time savings
Automated prioritisation saved almost 140 hours per cycle and reduced overhead for both security and IT teams. :contentReference[oaicite:6]{index=6}
Stronger remediation culture
Clear prioritisation aligned IT support groups around what to patch first — increasing compliance and reducing backlog.
Continuous coverage
The environment moved from quarterly manual scans to continuous scanning and monitoring.
Improved security posture
Critical vulnerabilities were addressed faster, reducing overall risk to sensitive academic and medical data.
Better collaboration
IT and security teams built a shared operational rhythm using automated reports and risk-based prioritisation.
Vendor support uplift
The university experienced responsive support and rapid assistance during implementation. :contentReference[oaicite:7]{index=7}
Need to modernise your vulnerability management?
Cyber Defence helps organisations transition from manual, compliance-focused scanning to automated, risk-based, scalable vulnerability management programmes.
We support universities, healthcare providers, financial firms, and enterprise environments with tailored scanning, prioritisation, and remediation models.