Home News Shift online exposed and expanded college cybersecurity vulnerabilities – Higher Ed Dive

Shift online exposed and expanded college cybersecurity vulnerabilities – Higher Ed Dive

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Ransomware attacks doubled from 2019 to 2020, according to one report, and experts say the increased use of virtual tools opened up new threats.

One of the first big data breaches to impact a college campus hit Ohio State University in 2010, involving the records of more than 700,000 people affiliated with the school. While there has never been evidence that records were actually stolen, the event was a wake-up call for Ohio State and other major universities, said Dave Kieffer, an information technology leader at Ohio State at the time of the breach.

The threat then was novel, but over the past decade, colleges have become more proactive in addressing such risks. Cybercriminals target colleges for a few reasons, said Kieffer, who is now a research vice president with the Tambellini Group, an IT consulting firm.

For one, the diversity of campus functions makes it challenging to build a comprehensive security program. Institutions also house a massive number of digital identities, making them a treasure trove for hackers. On campuses conducting research, intellectual property has also increasingly been targeted.

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