Case Study: University of Southern Queensland achieves proactive 24/7 threat detection and response with Sophos MTR

University of Southern Queensland Teaches Cybercriminals a Lesson With Sophos MTR

University of Southern Queensland (USQ), a long-established leader in online and blended education with 2,500 employees and 27,500+ students, needed proactive cybersecurity—especially during COVID-19 when many staff worked remotely—and sought a solution that would do more than just detect threats. After evaluating multiple providers, USQ chose Sophos, deploying Sophos Managed Threat Response (MTR) alongside Sophos Phish Threat and Sophos Device Encryption to strengthen its defenses against the evolving threat landscape targeting education.

Sophos MTR provided a 24/7 managed threat hunting, detection and response service that initially operated with restricted access and was soon given full autonomy after demonstrating high accuracy and no false positives. The Sophos team isolated endpoints in real time, successfully stopped independent penetration testers during a blind trial, reduced the need to hire additional full‑time security staff, and freed USQ’s IT team to focus on higher‑value work—delivering measurable protection, cost efficiency, and greater operational confidence.

University of Southern Queensland

Luke Drury

Information Security Manager