DeVry University

The Challenge

Kwong, a 20-year veteran of information security and technology who leads DeVry's cybersecurity program, the physical security of DeVry, and curriculum development for student cybersecurity programs, candidly discussed the challenges DeVry faced before working with Paubox. 

When Kwong entered DeVry, he knew his priority would be ensuring compliance with the FTC safeguard rules that require student data to remain protected during transit.

The issue was heightened because of the potential consequences, "A lot of our funding comes from what's considered a Title IV [aka, federal financial aid funds], and so it would affect the organization in a very..bad way [if we weren't compliant]."

On top of this, DeVry also uses the NIST cybersecurity framework to measure how well the business is meeting security targets. When Kwong measured DeVry's risk before Paubox, he knew it was time to use a secure email system. 

Kwong wanted to use something tried and true to become compliant quickly and effectively. "We needed to implement [a solution] quickly as part of our roadmap to meeting FTC safeguard compliance," Kwong explained. 

Adopting new technology is challenging, especially for a large organization like DeVry; many students and employees have varying knowledge levels regarding implementing a security system. DeVry needed a solution that was easy to implement and wouldn't cause friction for recipients or senders. 

With DeVry's time-sensitive situation, Kwong decided Paubox was the solution the organization needed.  

The Solution

Prior to working with DeVry, Kwong had worked at Delta Dental Plans Association in Hawaii, where Paubox was already implemented. Kwong hoped to replicate the success at Delta Dental: "When I saw a similar need here at DeVry, it was something that we just decided to continue to bring over and use here in this organization as well." 

Paubox is HITRUST certified, a highly trusted framework for evaluating and reporting on the controls and processes that organizations implement to ensure the security and privacy of data. For Kwong, this was a "good baseline" for measuring Paubox's security.

Kwong knew Paubox was a trusted vendor, so the decision was quick and easy. Even so, he was hesitant about implementing Paubox within a much larger organization, "When I was at Delta, it was a smaller organization, so from a throughput perspective, we weren't 100% sure what that might mean for a larger organization like DeVry." 

Still, Kwong was confident that Paubox could tackle the challenge and pave the way for seamless use by employees and students. DeVry opted to use Paubox's email suite solution to encrypt and secure organizational emails. 

For DeVry, some emails are sent by employees, while others are automated to streamline assistance. Kwong was initially uncertain about how the machine-based communications would be changed. The transition was easier than Kwong expected, "Now by just changing the workflow a little bit, we will always instigate an email from our side, from the colleagues to the students. And using Paubox, they can reply to that now, and the data is then encrypted in transit."

Kwong says it's a "small change to our business process, but much more secure." It didn't change much for Kwong's operations either, "For the most part, it's set it and forget it." 

With its ease of use, effectiveness, and affordability, Paubox is a solution that now helps DeVry maintain FTC compliance.

The Results

For a large educational institution, Paubox was a clear choice. "Universities are sometimes slow to change, or they don't always have the budget to make the technology changes required to meet some of the goals of the university, either from a security perspective or from a compliance perspective," Kwong explained. "By using Paubox, we're able to ensure that the emails sent and the data sent within those emails are protected appropriately from an encryption perspective and in transit." 

One of the best parts was how easy the system was to implement and how straightforward the user experience was. "With Paubox, the piece that I appreciate the most is the fact that you don't need to have a separate browser login to get to those encrypted emails. That's the one piece that really won it over for me, the fact that user experience is pretty transparent." 

Kwong recommends the email suit for any large institution that needs to send sensitive data. "Paubox makes it easy if you need a secure way to transmit sensitive information via email. It's an easy plug and play move for any university to take…and leverage it to meet those compliance and security needs." 

Paubox efficiently runs in the background at DeVry, and few employees have felt a change from before - a sign that Paubox is minimally disruptive while working towards DeVry's security goals. "Overall, the colleagues have been happy with the product," Kwong said. "You don't really hear too much about it [from employees], which is always a good sign because if there's an issue, you hear about it." 

Now, DeVry's emails are automatically encrypted, and any suspicious emails are quarantined. Paubox has never experienced a data breach and uses state-of-the-art technology to secure every email.

With a trustworthy system in place, Kwong has one less item on his plate and can keep his focus on educating students and keeping DeVry's cyber network safe and secure.

Learn more about Paubox Email Suite today.