Securing the Education Sector with Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School

At a Glance

Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School (PEGS), a prestigious multi-campus independent school in Melbourne, Australia, successfully improved its security posture and gained valuable insights into staff and student cybersecurity knowledge by implementing usecure's comprehensive platform.

Through the implementation of usecure, PEGS significantly enhanced its security awareness training program, reduced phishing vulnerabilities, and gained actionable insights into their human cyber risk. The school created a more secure environment for both staff and students, demonstrating its strong commitment to cybersecurity in the education sector.

Key Results:

• Overall Human Risk Score reduced from 573 to 275 in just 12 days
• 99% of phishing simulations successfully identified by staff and students
• Average training course completion in just 3 days, showing high efficiency and engagement

The Challenge

As a large, multi-campus educational institution, PEGS recognised the importance of cybersecurity awareness across all levels to protect staff and students. Rising cyber risks — including phishing and credential breaches — made it essential for the school community to understand and apply strong cybersecurity practices.

The school also needed insights into current cybersecurity knowledge and a measurable strategy to reduce overall human cyber risk.

Customer Insight
Shannon O'Brien, Director of ICT at PEGS, explains:

“We wanted a platform that could be tailored to our needs, allowing us to test and build security knowledge across our community effectively. With usecure, we can run phishing simulations, build security profiles, and gain meaningful insights.”

The Solution

After reviewing several options, PEGS selected usecure’s platform for its ability to deliver tailored, automated training, phishing simulations, and breach monitoring.

• Tailored Security Awareness Training (uLearn): Automated and adaptive training with pre-built and customised courses covering phishing, password hygiene, and compliance (e.g., GDPR).
• Realistic Phishing Simulations (uPhish): Simulated phishing attacks to test resilience and identify individuals who required additional training.
• Breach Monitoring (uBreach): Continuous monitoring for exposed credentials, enabling proactive remediation.

Shannon O'Brien adds:

“The selection of courses and phishing templates, customisation options, and automation features helped us address our unique needs. The platform’s reporting capabilities allowed us to measure risk at a glance.”

The Results

PEGS achieved measurable improvements in just 12 days:

• Security Awareness (uLearn): Average score of 91% across courses, with 80% completion and most training completed in only 3 days.
• Phishing Simulations (uPhish): 99% success rate in spotting phishing attempts, reducing compromise risk to just 1%.
• Breach Monitoring (uBreach): 26% of users flagged with breached credentials, providing insights for targeted training.
• Overall Human Risk Score: Reduced by 52% in 12 days, dropping from 573 to 275.

How They Did It

PEGS leveraged a mix of pre-built and customised courses, phishing simulations, and automated reporting. The ICT team gained a clear view of their human cyber risk while saving significant time with automation features.

Key Takeaway

By focusing on increasing staff and student cybersecurity awareness, PEGS successfully reduced human cyber risk and strengthened its security posture. The usecure platform not only delivered immediate improvements but also provided a foundation for ongoing adaptation to evolving cyber threats in education.

Stats at a Glance:

• 91% average uLearn course score
• 99% phishing simulation success rate
• 3 days average course completion time
• 300+ diverse courses available on the platform

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