OneNet Cybersecurity Initiatives Safeguard Network

As I think of the priorities OneNet faces as the state’s internet service provider, what keeps me up most at night is cybersecurity. Securing our network, from OneNet’s core network right up to our customers’ networks, is a top priority for OneNet’s leadership and engineering team.

At a recent OneNet security forum, I learned that most of OneNet’s customers do not know about the initiatives we’re taking to ensure the security of our network and our customers. Every day, we deploy measures to secure our customers’ digital assets, and we are working to bring our customers together to share best practices that secure the entire system.

Our engineering team continuously monitors our network infrastructure to mitigate malicious activity, malware, distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) and other cyber threats. Current threat intelligence is monitored and information is distributed to the affected customers, providing them assistance to respond as needed.

One example of the use of intelligence monitoring is state testing for K-12 schools. State testing periods are high activity times for OneNet in defending DDoS attacks on the schools we serve. Thanks to the strategies and proactive security controls we’ve implemented, we can often detect a DDoS attack before a school even recognizes its effects on their network. Without OneNet’s help in mitigating DDoS attacks many schools would not be able to complete their state testing. DDoS mitigation is a priority initiative for OneNet’s security team. We mitigate two to three DDoS attacks each week and are continually looking for innovative technologies to combat these attacks.

Malware mitigation is another top priority. OneNet alerts customers when malware detections are reported through various security information organizations. On request, OneNet can also help identify potential information system vulnerabilities for customers by performing external vulnerability scans of the customer’s network perimeter.  These vulnerability scans test for misconfigurations, systems in need of patching or information disclosures that can impact a customer’s external security defense.

To stay informed and prepared for the needs of tomorrow, OneNet is continually engaged with cybersecurity industry vendors.  Security issues change quickly—sometimes on a day-to-day basis. To stay safe, an organization must be proactive in educating its security staff on the latest developments in the industry and the environment it operates within. OneNet strives to take proactive measures to stay informed and keep our customers informed as well.

As we investigate best practices and new technologies, we find new solutions to these ever-changing security issues. We conduct proof-of-concept trials to test the benefits of new technologies that can help solve current and future challenges in our active defense strategy. Staying on the leading-edge of cybersecurity defenses best positions us to keep our network safe today and tomorrow.

Our leadership team is implementing several initiatives to keep our customers involved and informed about cybersecurity. We have a new cybersecurity listserv for our customers. We will utilize this listserv to distribute security alerts that affect our customers. If you would like to be a part of this listserv, simply send a request to communications@onenet.net.

Following the success of our security forum in February, we plan to organize additional events in the future to focus on topics of interest we received from the participants. We hope you will watch your email for information on these events and join the conversation on cybersecurity.

If you would like to visit with one of our engineers about cybersecurity for your organization, please reach out to our team. We would be glad to chat with you. By joining together to tackle the issue of cybersecurity, we can improve defenses for each of our organizations and make our entire state stronger. I hope you will join us!