UCLA IT Services (ITS) recently completed a monumental 15-month project designed to make the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health’s IT services better, safer and more efficient. The main goals, which involved moving some IT services from the David Geffen School of Medicine's IT department to ITS, included improving technology for current and future UCLA Fielding needs, boosting data security and streamlining IT operations to improve the experience for everyone.
“This project was important to standardize hardware and streamline more effective support, increase the security posture to meet UC standards and leverage partnerships to optimize licensing,” said Allison Kamerman, UCLA Fielding associate dean for finance and administration. “We now have excellent hardware and support to meet the growing educational and research needs of the school.”
One large aspect of the project was upgrading the IT infrastructure. This included updating the network on five floors of the Center for Health Sciences Building. Additionally, more than 800 laptops and desktops were replaced and updated to meet UCLA ITS security policies. These devices, if placed end-to-end, would span roughly 2.5 football fields.
To make data more secure, several important steps were taken. A third-party security risk assessment was performed to find and fix potential problems. Trellix was used for advanced threat protection, and encryption and vulnerability management systems were put in place. Enhanced VPN services and multi-factor authentication (MFA) were also added, along with access and identity management through UCLA Logon. These security enhancements make the IT environment more secure and reliable, reducing the risk of data breaches and cyber threats. Ensuring a higher degree of data security is crucial for a public health school as it conducts research and handles sensitive health information.
The UCLA Fielding community was closely involved in the project through regular progress and status meetings to get input and address concerns. UCLA Fielding Local Support and ITS worked together during the transition of services, making sure that IT solutions were tailored to the needs of the school’s community. ITS and UCLA Fielding leadership also hosted town halls, department meetings, office hours and one-on-one meetings with faculty members to provide updates and gather feedback.
“This was a team effort, and getting broad input from across the school was essential,” said Kamerman. “The collaboration made this project a success.”
