As one of the largest public school districts in the country, Philadelphia faced the challenge of securing email and data across a large, diverse user base, students, teachers, and staff with wide-ranging technical literacy, while also meeting the legal and compliance demands unique to public education. Deputy CISO Andrew Speece needed tools that could handle everything from Gmail-based legal discovery requests to cybersecurity insurance requirements, without creating friction for a school system that couldn’t afford heavy IT overhead.
The district leaned on Mimecast’s Email Archiving & Compliance, DMARC Analyzer, and Security Awareness & Phishing Training to close those gaps, transforming Gmail archiving into a tool that saves legal teams countless hours on discovery and right-to-know requests, while adaptive phishing training cut successful attempts by 75%. DMARC Analyzer gave the district a way to meet cybersecurity insurance requirements and demonstrate a strong security posture to auditors and regulators. For Speece, what set the partnership apart wasn’t just the technology, but Mimecast’s willingness to build custom features for the district’s specific environment, turning a vendor relationship into what he calls a genuine partnership in improving cybersecurity for education.
