Behind the Shield

Protecting Community Colleges from Cyber Threats with Michael Wingler, CIO- Wilkes Community College

InfusionPoints Season 1 Episode 21

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0:00 | 1:04:03

In this episode of Behind the Shield, Chad Spears (Director of Security Operations at InfusionPoints) sits down with Michael Wingler, VP of IT & Operations / CIO at Wilkes Community College, to talk about a reality more schools are facing: community colleges are targets now.

Michael shares what’s changed in the threat landscape, why attacks love nights, weekends, and holidays, and how limited budgets and staffing make higher-ed security uniquely challenging. They dig into real-world lessons learned from close calls, vendor/partner risk, and why you can’t rely on “8–5 security” when threat actors work 24/7.

You’ll also hear what’s working: building a strategic IT program that earns a seat at the leadership table, leveraging security awareness training (including measurable phishing-rate improvements), and partnering locally for 24/7 monitoring and response.

If you work in higher ed, SLED, or IT/security leadership, this one hits home.

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Links / resources

InfusionPoints: www.InfusionPoints.com

Wilkes Community College: www.WilkesCC.edu

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