Reasons Why Education Sector Must Consider Cybersecurity As A Priority

Educational institutions must implement cybersecurity to protect their valuable data and finances from theft.

FREMONT, CA: Education institutions must prioritize cybersecurity. Cyberattacks are becoming more frequent and more serious in education, despite their challenges, such as a shortage of staff and a lack of funding and resources. There are no signs that they will diminish any time soon. School and higher education breaches frequently occur each year, increasing their prevalence. Student safety breaches are the most concerning. A weak cybersecurity infrastructure can put at-risk students in educational institutions, many of whom are minors. Consequently, the sector must do all in its power to ensure that its applications and systems are protected and to work towards overcoming any challenges it may face in the future.

There are various reasons why cybercrime targets education.

The motives for attacks can vary according to education venues' size, purpose, and stature. Schools and school districts may not face the same threats as world-renowned universities and colleges. The risk of unauthorized access to data needs to be evaluated by institutions.

DDoS attack: Many types of attacks can be made on all levels of education venues, including Distributed Denial of Service attacks or DDoS attacks. The attacker's goal is to disrupt the institute's network, negatively affecting productivity.

Data theft: It is another attack impacting all levels of education since all institutions store sensitive information such as names and addresses of students and staff. Information like this can be valuable for cybercriminals, including selling it to a third party or using it as a bargaining tool.

Financial gain: A hacker may also attack an educational institution for financial gain. In contrast, public schools may not be at risk, but private institutions, universities, and colleges handle a lot of student fees.

Espionage: Research and intellectual property are valuable assets of universities and colleges. It is essential to protect these assets from attackers.

How do cybercriminals target the educational sector?

Email and instant message phishing scams often trick users into trusting the source to access sensitive student or research data. Ransomware and malware attacks are also among the top three cyber threats. It is possible to hold files for ransom in more advanced forms of this threat.

The challenges of the Education sector

Insufficient resources and budget hold educational institutions from investing in cybersecurity. Many educational institutions allow students and faculty to bring their devices for educational and research purposes. It creates difficulty for authorities and IT departments to protect the network from vulnerabilities. Educational institutions do not possess any regulations for network users that allow unauthorized network access.

The Education sector continues to secure its networks against cyberattacks and unauthorized access.