
Difenda Is Proud To Be
Highly Educated and Certified










Difenda delivers A+ worthy cybersecurity solutions to protect schools from ransomware, data breaches and other advanced cyber threats. Our modular solutions enable schools to secure what they need when they need it.
Difenda’s NEW whitepaper: Consolidation and Simplification: The Future of Cybersecurity Management provides readers with proven steps to get the highest possible value from your Microsoft Security investment while simplifying the overall security environment.
The Current Situation
As educational institutions rely more on technology and interconnected systems to drive efficiency, productivity, and innovation, multi-cloud environments are putting you more at risk for cyber attacks. All areas of the business are being targeted by threat actors. From admissions, and application services, to the pipeline between high schools and higher education, cyber incidents are imminent.
With 24/7/365 cybersecurity monitoring and threat protection you gain peace of mind that you are doing everything you can to protect the sensitive information of students, staff, and faculty while ensuring the continuity of operations for student success.
In 2022 alone, schools faced:
88%
Rise In Ransomware
157%
Rise In Malware
34%
Rise In IoT Attacks
School boards are facing greater cybersecurity challenges as they see more students, disperse classrooms, constrained resources and reduced budgets each year. K-12 schools need to secure email networks, cloud apps and endpoints while maximizing public funding.
In an environment of limited resources, education leaders should leverage security investments to focus on the most impactful steps. At Difenda our goal is to introduce tools and features that can create better security outcomes to inform business decisions without dictating where your data is stored, or locking you into a contract with services you’ll never use. Our modular and customized approach allows you to get only the services you need.
Colleges and universities are constantly adopting new technologies to enable smarter campuses and more inclusive learning. With that, higher education faces a multitude of threat vectors that vary depending on the business persona. The majority of the users of higher-ed systems are students, who typically use their own devices to access university systems. But faculty, staff, and alumi all pose additional risk to the security environment through personal or business owned technology and devices.
The security architecture for faculty, students and alumni requires alignment between network segmentation, optimal wireless environments, protected cloud-based applications and user identity security. Managing this all demands tons of internal resources and funding.
Difenda recognizes the different bandwidth and traffic patterns in each education persona and offers customized solutions so your can protect your business critical data and extend only necessary elements across larger domains like email.
We’ll Meet You Where You Are In Your Journey
Optimize Microsoft Security A3 or A5 licensing capabilities, reduce costs, and ensure compliance with Difenda. By eliminating duplicate technology and identifying unused license capabilities, organizations can streamline their security environment and save money.
Whether just getting started or already deployed, Difenda can help Microsoft customers develop tailored guidelines for your company to do more with less. With this comprehensive roadmap, you will uncover technology you have already invested in and understand which Microsoft products and services address your technical and business needs.
TRUSTED BY EDUCATORS
IT Manager
“Difenda Managed Email TDR cybersecurity services have been a crucial aspect of our school’s cybersecurity measures. With the increasing reliance on digital communication, we needed a reliable and robust solution to protect our staff and student emails from cyber threats. Thanks to Difenda, we have been able to maintain a secure and safe digital environment for our school community.”
CIO
“Thanks to Difenda’s expertise and collaborative approach, we were able to optimize our existing Microsoft tools and implement effective cybersecurity measures to protect our entire email network. We now have more visibility into our systems and can focus on other aspects of our work while Difenda’s SOC takes care of threat response.”
Difenda’s cybersecurity solutions can offer several benefits to the education sector, including:
Protection against cyber threats: Difenda’s cybersecurity solutions can help schools and school boards protect their networks, systems, and sensitive data from various cyber threats, such as malware, ransomware, and phishing attacks.
Compliance with regulations: Educational institutions are often required to comply with specific data privacy and security regulations, such as FERPA and GDPR. Difenda’s cybersecurity solutions can help ensure compliance with these regulations and avoid potential legal and financial consequences.
Improved network visibility: the Difenda Shield provides greater visibility into network traffic, helping identify and mitigate potential security risks.
Reduced downtime: A cyber attack can result in significant downtime for an educational institution, disrupting classes and operations. Difenda’s solutions can help minimize the impact of a cyber attack, reducing downtime and minimizing disruption.
Enhanced student and staff safety: By protecting sensitive data and preventing cyber attacks, Difenda’s solutions can help ensure the safety and privacy of students and staff, promoting a secure and safe learning environment.
The #1 cybersecurity threat for schools today is ransomware attacks, often deployed through phishing attacks. 81% of Ransomware attacks occur in the education sector, with attackers targeting vulnerable systems and exploiting security weaknesses due to limited security resources to gain access to sensitive data.
Ransomware attacks can have a significant impact on schools, disrupting classes, operations, and the personal information of students and staff. It is crucial for schools to implement robust cybersecurity measures, such as regular data backups, network segmentation, and user education, to reduce the risk of ransomware attacks and other cyber threats.
Learn more about the state of ransomware in 2023 in our Guide to Ransomware Protection here.
Microsoft offers exclusive funding opportunities and incentives to their security partners who hold Advanced Specializations and certifications. These offers promote the deployment of their security solutions by expert security providers to their shared customers.
Difenda is able to offer these programs on behalf of our customers because of our longstanding partnership, our certifications, and our commitment to training our team in areas customers need support.
Discover more in our Microsoft & Difenda Funding & Incentives Guide here.
Difenda Is Proud To Be
Highly Educated and Certified
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Biography coming soon.
Megan Miller’s energy and passion for learning flow into all aspects of her work. As the Growth Manager, North America, she brings a background in sciences which she has transitioned to the tech sector in her role at Difenda.
With a Bachelors of Science in Geology, Megan is a lifelong learner who is voracious about learning anything she can get her hands on about cybersecurity. Her positive energy has built a sales strategy with a focus on expanding in the United States while nurturing the Canadian presence. She is responsible for recruiting and training the sales team. Together with the company’s leadership, she creates the sales process and the company’s product strategy in order to better serve the customer base. This ensures that our customers have a highly trained and highly motivated team to help them every step of the way, Megan has completed Microsoft SC-900 training and working towards mastering Microsoft.
Whether at work or play, Megan is fully committed. She took her love of hockey all the way to the semi-professional level as a competitive hockey player. Megan loves all things sports including water skiing, scuba diving, cycling, and snowboarding. She also enjoys time with family and reading about alternative energy, innovation, and cybersecurity.
As the Microsoft Partner Manager at Difenda, Natasha Phanor is responsible for driving growth within our Microsoft Partnership. With six years in the industry, she offers a fresh, energetic approach, and the ability to focus on our customer’s needs throughout the entire process. Natasha has the innate ability to foresee customer needs and solve problems before they arise, which creates a smooth road for each customer she encounters.
As the recipient of the Outstanding Services Partner of the Year Award in 2018, it is clear that Natasha responds quickly to customer needs, creates a platform for understanding a customer’s business requirements, and walks them through the process to ensure their complete satisfaction.
In her spare time, Natasha is as energetic and passionate as she is on the job. A self-proclaimed foodie-extraordinaire, she enjoys dinner parties, traveling, downhill skiing, hiking, biking, and reading. Natasha has a Bachelor of Fine Arts, specializing in Dance, from Ryerson University.
Lisa Templeton is the perfect combination of human empathy and technological prowess. In her role as People Services Manager, she takes care of our team members to support them in their daily work, as well as on their personal life paths. Happy employees make for happy customers, and Lisa excels in giving our employees the tools they need for success in order to become the best possible versions of themselves. Along with employee formation, she shines in the service delivery support domain to continuously improve the process. Her 24 years of experience in IT Operations and Service Management help her create quality and efficiency at Difenda.
Having attended the Information Systems Management certificate program at Ryerson University, and with various other certifications to her credit, Lisa is perceptive and innovative when it comes to information technology, but also sensitive to the needs of her human constituents. Responsible for achieving the first privately owned company HDI Support Center certification in Canada, she has also designed and implemented Service Management excellence programs and 24×7 IT Operations departments for multiple IT organizations, and has created corporate rewards and recognition programs to keep her employees engaged and motivated.
On the personal side, Lisa passionately supports the cause of breast cancer research, having lost her mother to the disease. She reads voraciously in her spare time, and enjoys the art of home renovation. The summer months also bring time on her boat and exploring new hiking trails.
Miranda McCurdy uses her myriad super powers in all aspects of her job and personal life. As the Marketing Director at Difenda, Miranda McCurdy brings over a decade of experience to the table, which includes expertise in all facets of operations, brand management, and content marketing, as well as a multitude of successful strategies for the ever-expanding digital world. She is an expert at simplifying the message the company is trying to send, filling in gaps in the information, and strengthening the content in order to create compelling narratives that strengthen the brand and developing programs that bring teams together.
With several Addy Awards issued by the American Advertising Federation Cleveland to her credit, and her never say die attitude, Miranda understands both the broader picture and the minute details that are needed to successfully market a product. With her abilities to harness both the talent needed to spread the message, as well as to create the message itself, she is an integral cog in the company’s ability to communicate with customers and other stakeholders.
When she is not building a brand, she shares her ability to fill the gaps in her community by volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, the Special Olympics, and the Charleston Food Bank. In her spare time, Miranda spends time with her family, enjoys fitness and health, paddle boarding, reading, and arts and crafts.
Connections are the name of the game for Juliana Zaremba. As Strategic Partnerships Director, she is responsible for Difenda’s channel partnerships and the development and ownership of the channel partner program. She is also responsible for the global Microsoft Partnership, including the creation of strategic plans with MSFT contacts that will facilitate the continued growth of the business and establish certification and training protocols in all security technologies. Her role is multifaceted, as she acquires partners, manages relationships with them, and develops strategies that will provide cutting edge security solutions to our customer base. Another integral aspect of her job is to facilitate growth.
With a Bachelor’s in Math from the University of Waterloo and 14 years of experience from her previous roles at Herjavec Group and CDW, her cutting edge focus and ability to develop long-lasting relationships and strategies provides world class security solutions to our customer base.
Juliana thrives on connections outside of work as well. She is a philanthropist and contributor with Women4Change based in Hamilton. This group of local women is passionate about supporting local causes, and she focuses her efforts around Women in STEM. She is also a member of Club Italia in Niagara Falls and supports their youth events throughout the year.
When not managing the Microsoft Global partnership, Juliana enjoys reading, often reading several books at once. Juliana enjoys exploring the Niagara Escarpment with her family, as well as sharing meals and experiences with her extended family. Juliana’s competitive nature has her always trying new things, like Whoop band challenges and Peloton.
Biography Coming Soon