Primary methods used by the higher education institutions to protect their data
Universities possess lots of valuable information, from private data to IP, which the intruders would gladly steal. Given the recent security leaks, universities had to enhance computer security.
While higher education institutions are trying to improve their computer security policies, more than half of them are using outmoded, fragile software, in comparison with about 1/5 of medical institutions and a few banking institutions, by a recent study performed by a cybersecurity risk control company.
Below you will find three ways to decrease the risks of potential university data leaks. IT workers can use them to defend their personal information.
1. Evaluate network safety as often as possible.
Checking for network problems routinely is essential for higher education institutions to protect their information.
The level of hardware vulnerabilities at the HEI is ten times higher than at financial establishments, following the recent studies.
Such vulnerability factors are much more significant for particularly valuable systems than in other sectors, highlighting the significance of continuously controlling the condition of campus networks.
There are a few resources at the disposal of the universities trying to perform network evaluation to discover these vulnerability factors.
Third parties like CDW can provide the higher educational institutions with free network safety inspections to find and draw up lists of vulnerabilities that universities may not know about.
Otherwise, IT workers can make use of specific instruments from such firms as Cisco or FireEye. It will allow to check the networks automatically and inform staff of any dangers that could be exploited by intruders.
2. Fix the university networks easily.
Rare testing is a common reason for security violations, which turns it into a necessary practical measure for IT staff. More than 50% of leaks across sectors were caused by the vulnerability factors that had not been fixed.
You may find patching cumbersome, particularly at the universities with small collectives. Therefore, automatic patching software can be a real catch.
For instance, one of the workers of Northwestern University introduced a reliable endpoint control system able to find out patches rapidly.
According to the university staff, the primary challenge was to address the shortcomings that could negatively affect every modern PC. We have been considering lots of target devices.
HEIs can reject the patch management process by shifting to the cloud. When one of the US universities substituted its internal postal infrastructure with Microsoft Office 365, it reduced the strain on its IT staff.
You don’t need to worry about the final stage. You don’t have to fix the software or wonder why one server failed. Everything is already taken care of.
3. Introduce network practices, which inhibit the lateral transfer.
Network segmentation or zero trust internet practices can impede the hackers from obtaining valuable data as they move laterally via the web.
If the webs are not segmented, attackers can get access to information files through a vulnerability in an unlinked web app and get into a university’s DPC from there.
Through web segmentation, intruders who can detect and use such shortcomings will not be able to get to the intellectual property and private data they’re searching for.
To create a segmented web, IT staff must begin with creating a map of their networks and planning out the app dependencies while trying not to over segment their web.
Using these three stages, higher educational institutions can establish a network protection plan capable of resisting the hacker attacks.
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As a Lecturer who is confronted with various problems of the outdated educational system and after seeing the Edgecoin product demo it was an obvious decision to trial those smart solutions.
Dr. Oliver Gilbert — Lecturer in Computer Science at the Lucerne University.
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