Notre Dame sets new standard for higher education with enterprise AWS security implementation

This article details how the University of Notre Dame became the first US higher education institution to implement enterprise-wide AWS Web Application Firewall (WAF), AWS Shield Advanced, and AWS Firewall Manager across 140+ AWS accounts.

• Notre Dame operates 90% of central IT infrastructure on AWS serving 13,000 students and 6,000 staff
• Penetration test identified opportunity to strengthen web application defenses across multi-account environment
• Deployed AWS WAF, Shield Advanced, and Firewall Manager using Infrastructure as Code and phased rollout strategy
• System now blocks nearly one-third of all malicious traffic university-wide
• Eight-month, 600-hour project required close collaboration with AWS Enterprise Support
• Success depended on CISO executive sponsorship, organizational alignment, and strategic AWS partnership
• Presentation at EDUCAUSE 2025 conference received perfect 5-out-of-5 feedback ratings

Notre Dame's comprehensive security implementation establishes a blueprint for other higher education institutions to follow, demonstrating how enterprise-scale cloud security can be achieved through strong leadership, organizational coordination, and strategic AWS collaboration.