UC Tech News is excited to share the stories of the people and projects behind the winners of the 2026 UC Tech Awards.
Team Name: President CyberSecurity Requirements Implementation: Enforcement Phase Team
Award Category: IT Security
Location: UC Riverside
Team Members:
- Dewight F. Kramer, CISO, ITS, UC Riverside
- Sureyya Tuncel, IAM Manager, ITS, UC Riverside
- Bryan Meeker, IAM Architect, ITS, UC Riverside
- Jonathan Ocab, SecOps Manager, ITS, UC Riverside
- Alexandra Chrystal, Manager, Communication & Training, ITS, UC Riverside
- Hapy Ting, Communication Specialist, ITS, UC Riverside
- Lily Barger, Director of Campus Support Services, ITS, UC Riverside
- Patricia Sanchez Jaques, Program Manager, Information Security Office, ITS, UC Riverside
- Robert Burg, Associate Director, Campus Support Services, ITS, UC Riverside
- Tom Gregory, IT Director, Bourns College of Engineering Dean’s Office, UC Riverside
- Victor Hill, Director of Research Computing, Computer Science & Engineering, UC Riverside
- Dan Szilagyi, IT Director, University Library, UC Riverside
- Ilya Brookwell, Faculty and Chair, University Committee on Academic Computing and Communications (UCACC), UC Riverside
- Many additional colleagues across UC Riverside supported the project in both large and small ways
The President CyberSecurity Requirements Implementation: Enforcement Phase Team won the Gold IT Security Award at the 2026 UC Tech Awards for their work on implementing a campuswide automated security enforcement framework that achieved near-universal compliance with UC cybersecurity requirements.
Project Summary
UC Riverside faced significant challenges in implementing the 2025 UC President’s Cybersecurity Mandate across a highly decentralized campus environment. The university needed a way to ensure that thousands of devices used by faculty and staff met required security standards before accessing university systems, while still supporting research, teaching, and public service activities.
The complexity extended beyond technology. UCR needed to build a solution that could work across a wide range of devices, operating systems, and user groups while gaining support from stakeholders across the university. The goal was to move beyond policy-based compliance and create a scalable, real-time enforcement framework that strengthened cybersecurity without disrupting the academic environment.
Action
To implement the 2025 UC President’s Cybersecurity Mandate, UC Riverside combined executive leadership, technical innovation, and campuswide collaboration to create a scalable security enforcement model. Key actions included:
- Securing executive sponsorship, including communications from Chancellor Kim Wilcox and Provost Elizabeth Watkins, to reinforce cybersecurity as a shared campus responsibility and not an IT-only initiative.
- Obtaining grant funding to support deployment of the required security toolset and reduce financial barriers for campus units.
- Implementing a “default-on” security strategy that required security tools by default for nearly all employees, with exceptions limited to systems that could not technically support the toolset.
- Establishing a “safety-net” framework that preserved access to essential teaching and collaboration tools while users addressed security requirements.
- Bringing together Information Security, Identity and Access Management and Systems; Campus Support Services; Communications; and academic units through a coordinated “One IT” approach to implementation and outreach.
Results and Impact
The impact of this effort was transformative, moving UCR from “policy-based compliance” to “active technical enforcement” at a scale unique among peer institutions. Measurable outcomes include:
- Comprehensive Compliance: Achieved a 96% compliance rate for required security tool installation among active employees.
- Real-Time Protection at Scale: Increased security validation from 0% to nearly 100% of non-student SSO logins, with thousands of device checks performed daily before access is granted.
- Minimal Exceptions: Reduced security gaps through a default-on security model with only limited, carefully reviewed exceptions.
- A Foundational Framework for the Future: Established a permanent, scalable security framework that now serves as the foundation for future cybersecurity initiatives at UC Riverside.
- Systemwide Leadership: Created a repeatable implementation model that can help inform cybersecurity enforcement efforts across other UC locations and higher education institutions.
