Key points:
- The number of detections around cybersecurity attacks has increased 68 percent in the last five years
- The goal for university IT teams should be increased resilience to these attacks
- See related article: Higher ed experienced the most ransomware attacks of any sector
As we quickly approach the fall semester, we continue to grapple with an onslaught of higher education cybersecurity threats. The recent MOVEit attack highlighted higher education as a target, with educational institutions comprising about a quarter of the victims, according to Reuters. Colleges from coast to coast were impacted, underscoring the ripple effect that a supply chain attack can have.
And the higher education cybersecurity outlook before this attack already wasn’t good. It’s difficult to find a hard and fast estimate of just how many ransomware attacks this sector is dealing with, but if the headlines are any indication, it’s a lot – and those are just the ones we hear about.
Colleges and universities make enticing targets for multiple reasons, including the troves of student data and potential value of research data they hold. Because the education sector is typically resource-challenged, it’s harder to attract and retain top security talent and to maintain an optimally staffed team. Criminals know this, so higher-ed IT and cybersecurity teams must do the best they can to fight phishing and other forms of social engineering, hacking, ransomware and more. Teams also feel the pressure to maintain the institution’s reputation, as a publicized breach can make it harder to attract students–who wants to attend a school where they don’t feel their data is safe?
Bob Turner has years of experience as a higher education executive, board member, and thought leader with a focus on cybersecurity strategy and leadership, information assurance and business continuity planning, and information technology management. At Fortinet, he is the CISO for K-12 and higher education acting as a senior level strategic business and technical advisor for the cybersecurity community and business executives. Previously, Turner was a cybersecurity executive and Director of the Office of Cybersecurity reporting to the Chief Information Officer/Vice Provost for Information Technology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. There, he built a cybersecurity team of 60+ cybersecurity experts delivering all cybersecurity services as well as improved university IT policy development by working with distributed IT and faculty governance groups to ensure cohesive approach to IT policy, governance, audit, and cybersecurity operations.
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