Louisiana State University has opened a new Security Operations Center to accelerate cybersecurity workforce development efforts in the state.
Housed within LSU’s Baton Rouge campus, SOC was created in partnership with Splunk and TekStream, which developed the university’s platform for the center, LSU announced on Thursday.
“LSU is building one of the nation’s strongest whole-of-state plans for cybersecurity, and we’re starting to receive inquiries from all over about the ‘LSU and Louisiana model,'” said Bill Rowan, vice president of public sector at Splunk and a four-time Wash100 awardee.
SOC represents the first node of a statewide cybersecurity system backed by the Louisiana Optical Network Infrastructure. Splunk provides the analytic and monitoring technology for the center, while TekStream supports the center’s management and incident response.
“Through the SOC, we are enhancing the development of cyber talent while fulfilling our flagship mission to protect and serve our state,” LSU President William Tate stated.
“Usually, we rely on talent to help us innovate, but this SOC flips that on its head: innovating to help produce talent, and Splunk couldn’t be more excited to be a part of this effort with TekStream,” said Rowan.
According to LSU, 94 students have applied to undergo training as cyber analysts to run SOC, performing tasks such as observing network traffic and pinpointing cyberthreats.
