UIT celebrates 2 major cybersecurity toolset milestones
ISO employees enjoy pizza during the default protect implementation party.
On October 23, 2026, UIT leaders hosted a lunch for Network, Information Security Office (ISO), ISO Program Management, and Strategic Communication teams to celebrate the successful implementation of the university’s default deny firewall policy. Default deny, sometimes referred to as default protect, blocks all but approved incoming network traffic coming from the public internet to the university.
“We want to thank your teams for the many hours — many years — of work on the default deny project. This was a major milestone,” said Clay Postma, director for ISO Program Management. “The transition was relatively smooth because of the work you did over the past couple of years, group by group, getting all the university’s networks behind default deny. So, this is a thank you to all of you.”
In January 2023, President Taylor Randall commissioned a cybersecurity initiative (login required), including the implementation of a suite of cybersecurity tools like default deny. UIT implemented default deny on August 11, 2026, after working with local IT teams to identify and analyze their networks and existing services, servers, and hosts to meet IT security standards and prepare for the change.
Clay Postma, director for ISO Program Management, thanks employees for their hard
work on the default protect project.
Network employees enjoy pizza during the default protect implementation party.
UIT Campus Computer Support employees celebrate after fully implementing the cybersecurity tool suite for each of the units they support. (Courtesy of Clay Postma)
Back row from left: Joe Sferrazza, Justin Fracchia, Ellis Valdez, Warren Worsley, Mike Broyles-Shaw, Ryan Nakamura, Robert Bateman, Matt Munro, Ben Perez, Adam Martin, [redacted], Ivan Mayorquin Cabello, [redacted], John Telford, Alec Kynaston, and Brandon Anaya.
Front row from left: Hunter Bangerter, Austin Pratt, [redacted], Tony Le, Kirk Barlow, and Trevor Cross.
UCCS completes toolset implementation
On September 30, 2026, ISO Program Management held a celebration for UIT Campus Computer Support (UCCS), which finished implementing the eight required cybersecurity tools for each its customers. UCCS provides embedded IT support to nine organizations, including Athletics, Facilities, Student Affairs, University Safety, and Utah System of Higher Education. Its core staff team also supports UIT units and smaller university organizations like Pioneer Theatre Company. That’s more than 80 individual tool implementations!
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