WATERVILLE — Thomas College VP of Information Services and CIO Christopher Rhoda has led efforts to use data analytics to increase device security at the College. He’s been selected to present at the annual Northeast Regional Computing Program (NERCOMP) Annual Conference on the topic. The conference takes place in March in Rhode Island.
The NERCOMP Annual Conference is a conference for higher education IT professionals to discuss ways to advance innovation and leadership in higher education.
Rhoda has worked in the IT area at Thomas College for over 35 years and has been the vice president of information services and CIO for more than 20 years. As a planner focused on efficiency and effectiveness in systems and processes, Rhoda has spent much of his time learning how to implement best-practice initiatives with a shoestring budget. Rhoda is also an adjunct associate professor occasionally teaching various computer information systems and business courses.
Rhoda’s presentation will explain how Thomas College uses a cloud-based tool to easily identify, prioritize, and reduce vulnerabilities on their various devices. Attendees of the presentation will learn how to increase their device security in a prioritized, systematic way, how easy it is to implement, and see a real-time Defender ATP dashboard and detailed system.
“This leading-edge product helps us by giving an overview of the security level for each of our hundreds of devices and helping us prioritize by device or software vulnerability based on data analytics; something that would be impossible to do manually,” said Rhoda. “While security is never 100 percent, this helps us get much closer with a systematic way of prioritizing updates. Thomas College’s security has improved over time by focusing in a systematic way on the biggest vulnerabilities.”
