colleges and universities America become a playground for cyber criminals. Without regulation, open their networks and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) culture makes it an easy target for online attacks. Read on to discover why our higher education institutions get a failing grade for cyber security.
US schools have poor safety rating and Results
The Massachusetts online security rating firm BitSight Technologies, recently rated Internet security measures Ivy League 's America, Big 12, Big 10, Pac-12, the ACC and SEC schools. Their study involved a student population of over 2.25 million and over 11 million IP network footprint.
The institutions were rated on a scale from a low of 250 to a maximum of 00. The average of schools around 0, well below the retail and healthcare sectors - all of whom two suffered several high-profile violations. When the students were on campus between September and May, most colleges have lost another 30 points.
"From social security and credit card numbers to health records and intellectual property generated by the research departments, colleges and universities are home to a large amount of sensitive data," said BitSight co technologies -founder and director of the Stephen Boyer technology. "Although not surprising given the unique challenges universities face securing of open campus networks, it is worrying to see that they are rating far below other industries we saw plagued by Recent security problems. "
Notes' BitSight Technologies are supported by concrete data EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research, which found that there were 562 reported cyber security breaches in 324 schools unique across the United States between 05 and 25 April 2014. This equals more than one violation for a week. With many offenses go unreported or even unnoticed, the actual figures are bound to be much higher. Among the violations that are reported, 77 percent occurred in colleges and universities of America.
Such infringement online has seen more than 300,000 employees, students, and records of the faculty of the University of Maryland exposed in February 2014. In May 2014, 163,000 students, applicant, faculty, staff and Graduate files were stolen from Butler University in Indiana as a result of cybercrime.
in August 2014, Joseph W. Langford, a student of Weber State University in Utah, has been accused of hacking into the computers of the university and the faculty. Although it is unclear exactly what information was accessed, the personal data of 1,0 people using computers raped between January and April 2014 may be at risk.
Many colleges and universities do not employ information security staff
It is no coincidence that schools that have come out on top of studying BitSight Technologies a leader of the dedicated security information or director of information security on staff. All schools with a rating of 700 or more BitSight Technologies employs one of these professionals online security. "These schools should serve as an example for other schools to compare their performance against," Boyer said.
online security trained professionals can look for malware infections and other computer threats, especially when the safety performance generally dips during the school year. early detection of these problems can help prevent the spread of malware before they do significant damage.
most institutions do not have formal plans up-to-Date up
the BYOD trend has been adopted by universities and colleges, with 95 percent personal laptops for using school networks and 89 percent that allows students to use a personal device on campus. However, 61 percent of schools say they do not have an official policy of BYOD. and even when they do, it seems few people know about it, other studies suggest that 23 percent of students are aware of the BYOD strategy of their school.
Establish a formal BYOD policy has been shown to improve significantly cyber security but only if managed correctly. It should be updated whenever new technologies are introduced into networks, but more than three in five schools with a BYOD policy admit that they do not. Less than a quarter of schools with an update of BYOD policies that document each year, and 17.8 percent admit they update their BYOD policy at all.
Institutions I do not know which devices using their networks
studies show that many higher education institutions are not aware of what devices use their networks. Fifty-six percent use an access control solution to the network for self-registration and BYOD automation, while 16.7 percent were manually register the devices. However, it is worrying that 20.7 percent do not consider the type of device when access is granted, and less than half require devices to have antivirus software installed before accessing the school network. This lack of awareness and regulatory best practice is to school networks at risk.
What can students on campus, administrators, and faculty Do?
Until the higher-ups are taking steps to improve safety on campus, it is administrators, educators and students who use these networks to their own efforts to stay safe. EDUCAUSE found that unintentional disclosure of account information, hacking and malware were the three main reasons security breaches occurred on campus, so individuals should take measures to protect these factors.
Colleges and universities often have computer labs with many computers for shared use. It is smart to avoid using these computers for high-risk activities such as online banking. When you use to access emails or student records, it is important to always log out when you are finished. Remember to keep your usernames and passwords secure to ensure that others can not access your accounts. It makes sense to create complex passwords using a combination of letters, numbers and symbols, or even use a password manager to create and store hard to crack passwords.
Individuals should not be complacent when they engage in BYOD practices. While the device may not be shared, the network is still. A virtual private network (VPN), as HotSpot Shield encrypts your data so it can not be read by others sharing the network. It is important to use a VPN in conjunction with antivirus software. Make sure that your operating system and are regularly updated to the best protection.
While it is alarming that colleges and American universities fail to cybersecurity, it probably should not be surprising. As long as these higher education institutions strengthen their online security systems, it is administrators, educators and students to protect themselves on campus.
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