Real Cyber Threats.
Real Skills. Real Impact.

A single cyberattack can shut down a hospital, lock up a university’s data, or drain a company’s bank account overnight.

With organizations facing costly and time-consuming recovery from attacks, LSU leaders decided to take on cyber threats head-on.

The result is an affordable, student-based solution for businesses and educational organizations that provides constant monitoring, early detection, and the expertise to act when an attack occurs.

The Louisiana Optical Network Infrastructure Security Operations Center (LONI SOC) was launched in 2023 to protect Louisiana’s public colleges and universities.

Craig Woolley, LSU’s chief information officer, said the program wouldn’t be possible without partnerships with the Louisiana Board of Regents, which also owns the LONI asset; the state, which provides funding; and industry partners TekStream, Splunk, and AWS.

TigerSOC followed in 2025, partnering with cybersecurity and cloud solutions firm TekStream as a student-run center that helps protect a diverse group of commercial and public clients nationwide.

Both SOCs report up to the LSU IT Security and Policy team with guidance from Woolley and Sumit Jain, chief information security officer for LSU’s Baton Rouge campus.

Every student trained in LSU’s security operations centers means one more defender in the fight against cybercrime.

For Arushi Ghildiyal, now a recent LSU graduate, working at TigerSOC provided an opportunity to earn extra income while developing specific cybersecurity skills and more general job skills, like teamwork, critical thinking, time management, and prioritization.

With a degree in cybersecurity, Ghildiyal leveraged her experience with TigerSOC to secure a job with one of the nation’s best cybersecurity teams at Chevron.

“That kind of experience,” she said, “you only really get from experiencing actual cyber incidents and understanding what is more normal versus what is actually malicious.”

The differentiator is the workforce development aspect, which is unique to the LSU model.

LSU’s scale, leadership, and partnerships make it a national model for blending education, workforce development, and cybersecurity readiness. 
Mark Liggett,  security operations manager for LSU TigerSOC, helps guide students in real-life, real-work scenarios to help them acquire the skillset and experience to work, first, at TigerSOC, and later, in the cybersecurity field.  
 He says information coming into the SOC raises alerts about abnormal events happening on the customer side. Students investigate those alerts to determine whether the event is or isn't malicious, pulling in TekStream or even the customer if immediate action is needed.
“Not only are they getting an academic value from LSU,” said Sumit Jain, chief information security officer for the Baton Rouge campus, “but they're also getting real-life work experience through working in the SOC. As of last semester, we have a 100% placement for students who have graduated from LSU and worked in the SOC.”