Higher Ed Strengthens Incident Response With AI and Practice

When Jeff Falsetti invoked AI — Allen Iverson, not artificial intelligence (just yet) — he made his point clear: in cybersecurity, practice isn’t optional, it’s preparation. 

At EDUCAUSE 2025, CDW experts Falsetti and Patrick Sullivan shared insights at a conference session titled, “Defending the Digital Campus: Mastering Incident Response in Higher Education.” Falsetti, a DFIR technical lead consultant, and Sullivan, a senior manager of security sales, joined industry peers to explore new strategies for mastering incident response in higher education through proactive tabletop exercises, AI-driven forensics and risk-based incident response strategies that keep institutions prepared.

WATCH: University CIOs shared their incident response approaches at EDUCAUSE 2025.

With AI, machine learning and cloud-based analytics now embedded in response strategies, colleges are developing programs that can adapt as quickly as the threats themselves. Preparedness isn’t about panic, it’s about partnership, collaboration, process and a campuswide culture of security.