charleston county school district case study.pdf

Unified Security Platform Transforms K-12 District’s Cyber Defenses

INDUSTRY
Education

HEADQUARTERS
Charleston, South Carolina

COMPANY SIZE
approximately 50,000
students in 88 schools

OVERVIEW

The Charleston County School District (CCSD) is a
nationally accredited school district dedicated to
providing equitable and high-quality educational
opportunities for all its students. CCSD is the
second-largest school system in South Carolina,
representing a unique blend of urban, suburban,
and rural schools that span 1,300 square miles
along the coast. CCSD serves approximately 50,000
students in 88 schools and specialized programs.
CCSD offers a diverse and expanding portfolio
of options and specialized programs, delivered
through neighborhood, magnet, IB (International
Baccalaureate), Montessori, and charter schools.

OUR SOLUTION

Options include programs in science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM), music and
other creative and performing arts, career and
technical preparation programs, and military.

A big benefit of the Check Point Infinity ELA agreement
is that we weren’t forced to buy everything Check Point
offered. We were able to layer exactly what we could
afford and what we need right now, and what we
need as we go forward.

Tom Nawrocki, executive director of network, operations, and cyber security at CCSD

CHALLENGE

The Charleston County School District (CCSD), like many K-12 institutions, faces an increasingly complex
cyber security threat landscape. Primarily concerned with maintaining system uptime for teachers and
students; while also ensuring business continuity, the district’s operations team also recognized the need
to elevate the maturity level of their cyber security program. CCSD serves approximately 50,000 students in
88 schools and specialized programs, offering a diverse and expanding portfolio of options and specialized
programs delivered through neighborhood, magnet, IB (International Baccalaureate), Montessori, and charter
schools.

Tom Nawrocki, executive director of network, operations, and cyber security, cited several significant
challenges that needed to be solved before the team could succeed at maturing their program. Like most
organizations today, CCSD found its existing cyber security staff stretched, with reliance on only a handful
of experts for specific systems, which threatened operational resilience. The county budget’s forecast for
cybersecurity proved unpredictable due to multiple funding sources and unforeseen security demands.

The technology team also experienced limited visibility into network activity, particularly during overnight
hours. This raised concerns about undetected security incidents. “Visibility was my main concern,” Nawrocki
said. “We were always worried to come in at 6 am and find out what happened overnight,” he said.

Finally, the combination of fragmented security tools from multiple vendors, incident response challenges,
and staff training proved overly complex to manage. “We needed immediate detection and response
capabilities. And we needed to have a firm incident response plan, but that’s a challenge when you have
diverse cyber security systems doing the monitoring,” he said.

With those challenges in mind, Nawrocki and the team set out to find a cyber security services provider that
could be an expert extension of their internal team, increase visibility into network events, and rationalize
their fragmented security tool sets.

I had such a high comfort level knowing we had the
support that we needed, the training that we needed, and
that support was just a phone call away.

Tom Nawrocki, executive director of network, operations, and cyber security at CCSD

SOLUTION

After their evaluation of available options on the market, the district chose to implement the Check Point
Infinity ELA cyber security platform. The Check Point Infinity Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) is a
comprehensive cybersecurity architecture designed to deliver all-inclusive threat prevention and security
management across an organization’s entire IT infrastructure. It represents a fundamental shift from
managing multiple disparate security toolsets to a unified, enterprise-wide security platform that simplifies
deployment, reduces costs, and improves threat prevention effectiveness.

The Infinity platform operates on four integrated pillars that collectively protect all organizational assets and
networks:

  1. Quantum Security Gateways form the network security foundation, protecting enterprise networks,
    data centers, and IoT networks against fifth-generation cyber-attacks.
  2. CloudGuard provides unified, cloud-native security across multi-cloud environments, enabling automated
    security posture management for cloud assets and workloads.
  3. Harmony delivers comprehensive workspace security, protecting remote users and their access to
    applications and data across all attack vectors. This includes endpoint protection, mobile security, email
    security, and SaaS application protection.
  4. Infinity Portal serves as the unified management console that brings centralized visibility, policy
    management, and threat correlation across all network environments and security solutions. The portal’s
    security operations center enables deep attack intelligence
    and visibility into the organization’s overall threat posture.

Nawrocki explains that while other vendors also offered all-inclusive options, he gravitated toward Check
Point because they listened closely to CCSD’s specific challenges, particularly in terms of funding, staffing,
and the team’s ability to support the security suite. “I had such a high comfort level knowing we had the
support that we needed, the training that we needed, and that support was just a phone call away,” he said.

“A big benefit of the Check Point Infinity ELA agreement is that we weren’t forced to buy everything Check
Point offered. We were able to layer exactly what we could afford and what we need right now, and what we
need as we go forward,” he said.

OUTCOME

CCSD’s cyber security efforts have delivered tangible improvements in both security and peace of mind.
Through the implementation of Infinity MDR/MPR (Managed Detection and Response/Managed Prevention
and Response), district leaders now report they can “literally go to bed and not worry about cyber security,”
Nawrocki said. They’re now confident in their ability to remediate threats automatically and deliver timely
notifications. This real-time visibility and proactive threat management have proven to be “a game changer,”
giving the district a level of assurance that was previously out of reach.

Nawrocki noted that the Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) also provided financial peace of mind. “The
ELA gave us several years of knowing exactly what we were going to spend,” he said. This flexible, all-in-one
agreement structure also enabled CCSD to invest in cross training its staff. And team members described the
training as some of the best they’d received. Most importantly, these investments translated into measurable
improvements in staff morale and operational effectiveness.

This includes dramatically improved visibility and control over the security environment, enhanced incident
response and operational efficiency, better budget management, increased staff confidence and morale,
fostered by improved training and support, and consolidation through the unification of endpoint, network,
cloud, and email security into a single comprehensive platform.