Many universities are struggling to handle increasing cyber threats

Today data is widely regarded as one of the most valuable assets any business can have; most understand it has to be fiercely guarded from competitors and other parties unauthorized to access it. Yet with recent high profile data breaches highlighting how frequent and damaging a cyberattack can be, it shouldn’t be a surprise that cybercrime is now the fastest growing economic offence. Data breach is becoming a major concern as universities struggle with cyber threats. Cyberattacks on colleges and universities have been increasing over the years, but the pandemic ushered in a new era of urgency. The attacks pose not just financial risks but also operational risk. Cyber threats have become a major concern across sectors and education is no exception. There is a 20% increase in cyber threats in the global education sector in the first three months of 2022 as compared to the same period in 2021. “Data breach of the enquiry list, that is prospective students’ details for admission, is one of the primary concerns at several universities. Student and parent details including Aadhaar number, phone number, among others are crucial data points for universities and colleges. Along with these, information related to financials such as salaries of faculties and grants received by the university are certain details which are at high risk from cyberattacks. Major research institutions, especially those with ties to hospitals, carry incredibly sensitive data and are increasingly becoming targets for ransomware attacks. This can be attributed to the fact that most schools are using aging IT infrastructure, coupled with vulnerabilities from widespread remote learning, unsecured Wi-Fi connections, untrained user networks and understaffed IT departments.

The Cloudsek report revealed that 73% of reported cases involved leak or sale of databases which included Personal Identifiable Information (PII), website user records and examination results. “Along with data breach, another threat is Axis Control Misconfiguration in which firewall rules get misconfigured and additional databases get exposed,” agreed Sambuddho Chakravarty, Associate Professor at Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIITD), said, adding that the institute has faced data breach several times. It’s clear that colleges and universities are facing an uphill battle to secure their networks and protect their data. The stats about cybersecurity in higher ed show that, although hackers have become increasingly skilled at stealing student and institutional data, the education industry is struggling to deal with these malicious threats. Furthermore, cyber threats are not limited to just data breach. “Different types of cyberattacks in recent times such as phishing, hacking social media handles and creating fake social media accounts have increased in the last two years. A survey says, in 2021, the average time to identify a breach is 212 days, and the average time to contain it is 75 days; totalling a 287-day breach lifecycle. The key thing to understand is that the faster a data breach is identified and contained, the lower the damage costs. Lifecycles less than 200 days were on average $1.26 million less costly than breaches with lifecycles greater than 200 days ($3.61 million vs $4.87 million). The need of the hour is that universities and educational institutions should adopt a centralized secured system to ensure protection for their important information.

S Mohini Ratna, Editor, VARINDIA