The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic tosses teachers, students, and parents into the digital world. Universities had to shift to online learning on a large scale, which led to weaknesses in data privacy protection. This problem still existed before the pandemic, although right now, it is overwhelming.

Most students across the globe are back to their classes, but the problem of data security and privacy remains. Universities can access sensitive student data and information, including contact information, financial records, scholarships, test scores, and much more. Some top universities are not taking the initiative to protect student data. 

Hiding data security issues from the public

Data security breaches can lead to lawsuits and costly fines to universities, but the consequences of PR may be worse. With a breach, an institution may endure long periods of bad press, diminished reputation, investigations, and remedial plans. Most top universities prefer to hide their security problems under the rug to avoid such consequences. 

This may make the breaches more damaging to the institution’s reputation in the long run. Universities should do everything possible to protect students’ data instead of waiting for damages to occur. For instance, email protection can help to prevent malware, phishing, ATO, APTs, BEC attacks, impersonation, and cloud agility. 

Difficulty in measuring ROI

Universities operate like businesses where they face security challenges from time to time. They often ignore the IT security procedures or create a small budget for it because it is hard to show measurable ROI. The institutions cannot know when a malicious attacker may compromise data security or even the damage this can cause. After all, no security measures and controls will make an institution 100% safe.

Security breaches can cost universities a lot of money, so it will be better if they make small changes to secure data. Using data encryption, identity verification, or hiring a Chief Information Security Officer can save money for every record breached. Departmental security leaders and CISOS must spearhead cybersecurity in universities. They should work with partners with an understanding of security problems to lead the institutions to a safer future. 

Universities cannot skip the procedures

Universities must apply all the traditional methods to protect the integrity of students’ data. A good approach entails installing and maintaining effective firewalls to monitor and track network traffic. The security procedures must also enable users to identify unauthorized users to avoid malicious data manipulation. 

Some top institutions are not using private networks with complex and strong passwords on their routers. This is because they adopt a distributed data processing system that also allows students to participate in virtual learning. Decentralized systems that are used by top universities are more difficult to secure than centralized systems. Institutions must discourage their employees from using unsecured routers, hotspots, and mobile devices, especially the ones with public connections. 

Universities have complex structures

Universities have complex structures with different corporations with diverse security challenges and legal requirements. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) governs the institution as a whole. This requires the institutions that receive funding from the federal government to protect student data such as health information, test scores, and grades.

Despite such requirements, some universities don’t prioritize student data security. They find it challenging to be subject to governing technology, rigorous controls, administration, and security procedures. Institutions are worried about many financial compliance requirements where they must adhere to controls governing credit card information storage and transmission. It becomes very difficult to give security challenges priority or to design a comprehensive data security strategy. 

Failure to have coherent strategies

University employees and students have diverse opinions, just like in other organizations. They may not prioritize security because the management’s opinion may not be aligned with IT security. They may use email protection solutions that fail to meet the unique needs of end users or use apps with complex security gaps. 

The priorities of different departments may also differ, making it difficult to make choices regarding student data protection. It is hard to face security challenges without a solid organizational strategy. Departments must exchange information securely and also connect with other stakeholders such as contractors, parents, and students. They cannot achieve this if everyone is using different security tools. Universities must have secure communication systems that are easy to use to connect with all stakeholders. 

The inertia problem

Inertia is another issue that stops institutions from securing student data – having diverse knowledge may not necessarily translate to action. Many universities understand the risk of exposing data to third parties or attackers, but they still fail to take action.

Overhauling systems security is not an inexpensive process, and with the challenges of running an institution, the management can offer it to inertia. If the institutions can make small changes or invest in systems security, they can reduce the risk of threats. For instance, adopting data encryption in high-risk areas can enable a university to tackle security challenges better. 

The difficulty in protecting the unknown

As mentioned earlier, universities have complex structures and systems with lots of bureaucracy. Determining the scale of their sensitive data requires having adequate data recovery procedures in case of a loss. The goal should be to compare the risk of storing sensitive information or data and using the data for business purposes.

One of the best ways to streamline the process is by using digital tools for data classification. After mapping the data, institutions can understand its scope and design ways to reduce the risk of loss or manipulation. University employees fail to understand the type of data they should protect, so they cannot reduce the number of people who come into contact with it. 

Conclusion

Data theft due to leaks, exposures, breaches, and other compromises remains a challenge in many organizations. Universities and colleges are complex organizations that share data and information with larger private and public networks. Although students’ data is very sensitive, many top institutions fail to protect the data for the above reasons. Universities should have security tools that are strong enough to meet compliance standards and empower end users.

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• Source: Plato Data Intelligence: Platodata.ai