Page 92 - Security Today, March 2020

“The need for protection is not only limited to the physical, as digital assets, individuals’ identities and sensitive information are constantly under attack from bad actors.”
By Wayne Dorris
A Vital Role
Campuses must embrace their responsibility to protect students and staff from cyber threats
Cybersecurity
From a campus security management standpoint, the safety and security of students, staff, faculty and visitors should be top of mind for administrators and security staff alike. Ensuring the protection of people and facili- ties reduces an institution’s potential risk and exposure.
Reducing Exposure
However, the need for protection is not only limited to the physical, as digital assets, individuals’ identities and sensitive information are constantly under attack from bad actors. In our increasingly con- nected world, any and all devices and systems that are connected to a network pose potential risk and could even be used as an entry point to gain access to even more networks, systems and data.
These risks are not merely theoretical. In research conducted by CDW-G, 60 percent of IT professionals surveyed said their institu- tion had experienced a data breach in the last year, with 29 percent of those breaches resulting in documented data loss. So while cyberse- curity may not be a top priority for university leaders, the risks and
consequences of network breaches place increased importance on protecting the networks and systems that support the academic goals of educational institutions.
According to the CDW-G survey, the main reason colleges and universities are particularly vulnerable to cyber attacks boils down to a general lack of preparedness. In the study, less than half of campus IT staff surveyed reported that they had implemented critical cyber- security measures like network segmentation (46 percent), endpoint protection (45 percent), remote access controls (44 percent) and two- factor authentication (39 percent).
The first step educational institutions should take to implement the strongest level of cybersecurity is to develop a written cyberse- curity strategy that can be used to ensure that all devices and systems comply with security policies. There are many factors that can come into play with these policies, including compliance with regulations and standards like GDPR, ISO 27001, PCI and others. It is also important that devices are aligned with standard risk-management tools and practices.
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