Educational Institution Cybersecurity

School districts and institutions of higher education are particularly vulnerable to cyber criminals. Between a store of highly sensitive information and an open network for students and staff, K-12 and Universities are often targeted by ransomware and other cyber threats.

Protecting this valuable information requires an advanced level of security. However, most educational facilities are faced with limited funding, which can lead to resource and staffing shortages. Despite higher education being on the leading edge of research and innovation, funding challenges can still lead to a regressed scenario when it comes to IT technology. In addition, major regulatory compliance obligations in education require extensive resources, often resulting in oversight on security infrastructure and reporting.

Educational Institutions face many risks from a cyber attack, including:

• Hackers gaining access to student information
• Ransomware holding pertinent information or network access hostage, forcing a shutdown of operations (school closures)
• Hackers going after proprietary research data and intellectual property
• Large, complex networks with many users are difficult for most IT departments to protect