Facing new cybersecurity requirements, Liberty Center Schools and Patrick Henry Schools turn to Cloud Monitor for better account protection
As Director of Technology for Liberty Center Schools and Patrick Henry Schools in northwest Ohio, Dustin Ruffell oversees “anything and everything that plugs in.”
Dustin leads technology strategy, implementation, and cybersecurity for both districts, serving approximately 1,900 students and 380 staff members. Both districts are 1:1 environments that use Google Workspace for Education Plus.
“Google Workspace Plus gives us valuable security tools, and I’m glad we have them. But when I’m trying to investigate something quickly, Cloud Monitor is so much simpler. Instead of jumping between Vault, logs, the Investigation Tool, and multiple browser tabs, I can find the information I need right there in one place. What used to take hours can now take minutes.”
— Dustin Ruffell, Director of Technology, Liberty Center and Patrick Henry Schools
When Ohio House Bill 96 became law in 2025, it required all state organizations—including school districts—to establish formal cybersecurity programs. As Dustin worked with stakeholders to evaluate risk across both districts, three priorities emerged: Google account security, email and phishing protection, and financial risk.
Like many K-12 technology leaders, Dustin is responsible for protecting a growing digital ecosystem with limited staff and resources. He selected ManagedMethods Cloud Monitor specifically to strengthen both districts’ Google Workspace security and improve account visibility.
Challenges
Before implementing Cloud Monitor, Dustin’s primary concern was proactively preventing a serious security incident. The fear of a compromised Google super admin account kept him up at night, in particular.
Although Dustin stresses that he appreciates Google’s native security tools and that they work, he found the investigations incredibly time-intensive.
“The biggest value of Cloud Monitor is how much faster I can get to the answer. When a principal came to me with a Google Doc investigation and very little information to go on, I expected it to take half my day. With Cloud Monitor, I found what I needed, captured the sharing activity, and got the information back to him in less than 30 minutes.”
— Dustin Ruffell, Director of Technology, Liberty Center and Patrick Henry Schools
“We have the Google security tools, and I did learn how to use them properly,” Dustin shares. “The problem is that they’re not necessarily efficient.”
Investigating suspicious activity could mean searching for document IDs, reviewing logs, opening Vault, checking event histories, and switching between several browser tabs to understand what happened. A single investigation could consume hours of Dustin’s day.
“You go down all these rabbit holes. A simple investigation could take me half a day to sort through,” recalls Dustin. “And that’s assuming you have enough information to be able to find it at all, which wasn’t always the case.”
At the same time, staff members were reporting more suspicious emails and activity. Like any good IT Director, Dustin encourages everyone to report suspicious emails and activity, but modern phishing attacks are far more convincing than the obvious scams of the past.
“It used to be that most of my staff could identify that the Prince of Nigeria did not actually want to send them a bunch of cash,” Dustin explains. “Now the scams are well written, highly personalized, and look real. It’s difficult for any of us to quickly identify a scam email, including myself.”
“Cloud Monitor gives me peace of mind around the thing I was most concerned about: Google account security. I wanted better protection against account takeover, especially around super admin accounts, and ManagedMethods gave me that visibility and confidence while also adding tools I didn’t even realize I needed yet.”
— Dustin Ruffell, Director of Technology, Liberty Center and Patrick Henry Schools
The districts’ investment in Abnormal AI helps strengthen email security and reduce risk from phishing and other threats. However, Dustin still needed better visibility and control into what was happening inside Google Workspace after a user clicked a link, shared a file, or exhibited suspicious account activity.
He found he could achieve that, without adding personnel or outsourcing security operations, with Cloud Monitor by ManagedMethods.
Results
Since implementing Cloud Monitor, Dustin has gained stronger Google account protection, greater visibility into Google Workspace activity, and significantly faster investigations.
“A big value-add for me is I can do my investigations so much faster,” explains Dustin. “I have so much more information in one dashboard or a few clicks.”
One example occurred when a principal needed information about a shared Google Doc, but did not know its title. Previously, locating the file and reconstructing its history would have taken hours using multiple Google tools.
With Cloud Monitor, Dustin quickly identified the document, reviewed sharing activity, gathered screenshots, and provided the information the principal needed.
“When he first called me, I thought I was going to be spending more than half my day on this one investigation,” recalls Dustin. “But, with Cloud Monitor, it was literally less than half an hour.”
Instead of juggling Vault, the Investigation Tool, and multiple logs, Dustin can access the information he needs from a single interface, even with limited information. Usually within minutes.
“Cloud Monitor is a great use of our limited funds. It gives us insight and protection we didn’t have before, helps me investigate faster, and gives me the kind of Google Workspace visibility that is hard to put a price on when you’re responsible for cybersecurity.”
— Dustin Ruffell, Director of Technology, Liberty Center and Patrick Henry Schools
Cloud Monitor also provides data loss prevention visibility. Configured alerts for personally identifiable information sharing allow Dustin to quickly review sharing activity and determine whether follow-up is needed.
For his small district technology team, Cloud Monitor’s ease of use is a major benefit. While Dustin values having ManagedMethods support available when needed, he has found the platform intuitive enough that day-to-day management requires very little assistance.
“Cloud Monitor is so easy once you spend a little bit of time in it,” Dustin says. “I know I have the support team in my back pocket if I ever have a question. But, it’s so easy, I haven’t really needed it.”
Dustin’s advice to other district techs is to not just sit through the demo, but to sign up for a free trial and experience the value for yourself. “Once you start using Cloud Monitor with your own users, your own data, and your own investigations, you begin to understand how much time it saves and how much you’ve been missing. If you only look at the price tag, you’re missing the bigger picture.”
“When I look at all the other things we spend money on, Cloud Monitor is a great use of our limited funds,” Dustin shares. “It’s insight and protection that we did not have, at a cost that is more than worth it.”
Want to learn more about improving your district’s cybersecurity, student safety, and classroom engagement?
Get started with your free Google Workspace and/or Microsoft 365 security and safety audit today.
