These incidents illustrate the need for IT departments to embrace a proactive stance against cyber attacks. Consequently, 2019 witnessed sophisticated cyber-attacks on various institutions that were completely unprepared. Education's openness a unique security challenge, Verizon says in data breach report. Earn a Microcredential Showcase your expertise with peers and employers. Cyberattacks have exposed sensitive information about students’ applications and medical histories , altered grades and attendance records, and jeopardized payroll funds . The victims were those who had previously interacted with the employee’s email account. Unsecured web applications provide easy access for hackers to gain entry into any business to conduct a variety of crimes. Learn and Advance in Your Career Explore professional development opportunities to advance your knowledge and career. About 31 percent of data breaches originate internally, according to the paper. Security breaches happen with frightening regularity in higher education. Inventories that keep track of network hardware and devices 2. This might be due to their immersion into scholarly pursuits and hence inherent struggle to find a balance between academic openness and IT security. On October 19, the college discovered suspicious activity. Even if they do, “paying ransoms emboldens criminals to target other organizations” and may make blackmailed organizations more likely to be targeted again. To develop best practices capable of meeting cyber threats head-on, IT leaders must first identify common threat vectors: How are malicious attackers gaining network access? While education lags behind industries such as finance, healthcare and public administration in total breach volume, Verizon’s “2019 Data Breach Investigations Report” notes an uptick in both the volume of confirmed data disclosure attacks in education — 99 of 382 incidents — and in the variety of threats. The report deep dives into the evolution of the threat landscape, who is perpetrating attacks, the top attack types, and assets affected by breaches. Security Breaches in Higher Education Protecting Admission data: A multifactor authentication platform . Breach exposed data of students and their families. The hard drives were used to create a weekly backup of research data which went through several handoffs. A free lightweight version of the product that lets you monitor and manage 2 systems for free. In an unfortunate incident, a hacker accessed employees’ email accounts which compromised patient names, addresses, social security numbers, medical records, and so on. Many institutions of higher learning believe they are immune. Doug Bonderud is an award-winning writer capable of bridging the gap between complex and conversational across technology, innovation and the human condition. Here are the top university data breaches in 2019 that shook the cybersecurity world. Visit Some Of Our Other Technology Websites: Figuring Out the Right Mix of Collaboration Tools, Copyright © 2020 CDW LLC 200 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Vernon Hills, IL 60061. According to the Ponemon Institute study, companies that detected a breach in less than 100 days had an estimated average total cost of $3.11 million. As institutions of higher learning including universities and colleges start adopting mobile technologies, they are finding themselves being targeted by hackers and other malicious actors. An estimated 200 citizens had names, addresses, personal identification numbers, and ID card details shared with media outlets. According to Kim Milford, executive director of the Research and Education Networks Information Sharing and Analysis Center (REN-ISAC), “there’s nothing new” about the most popular attack strategies. Malware defense mechanisms 5. January 17, 2019: Security researcher Troy Hunt discovered a massive database on cloud storage site, MEGA, which contained 773 million email addresses and 22 million unique passwords collected from thousands of different breaches dating back to 2008. 2019 brought a slew of higher educational data breaches with attack vectors ranging from malware, to phishing, to ransomware. According to Capital One’s statement, no credit card number or log-in credentials were leaked, and less than 1% of Social Security Numbers were compromised. loss, portable device breach, stationary device breach, or unintended disclosures (Data Breaches n.d.). Network firewalls Monitoring those systems has brought closer attention to the role of the cybersecurity officer. For example, a recent survey found that after a successful attack, students’ risk perception temporarily increased — even as their overall attitude toward cybersecurity remained indifferent. The applicants were sent emails, offering them access to confidential information regarding their admission file for a fee. Personal data of 326,000 patients compromised. For those that took more than 100 days, the average data breach cost was $4.21 million — more than $1 million more. The financial security of higher education is experiencing a bigger threat than student retention. For higher education IT leaders, the fundamental tenets of IoT operational assurance include the ability to automate the discovery and classification of IoT devices, identify baseline IoT behavior, detect anomalies, and proactively enforce security policies when an IoT device or a group of them deviate from acceptable behavior. According to Verizon’s Data breach investigations report, the education industry experienced 292 cyber incidents in 2018 resulting in 101 system breaches. According to the OnePlus security team, an unauthorized party managed to access customer information by exploiting a vulnerability in the OnePlus website. The University of Greenwich had to cough up £120,000 ($160,000) as fine for a security breach which compromised personal data of 19500 students. Higher Education Cloud Security Is The Most Critical Topic of 2019 As more colleges and universities transition to the cloud, higher education cloud security can no longer be treated as an elective As they say, “the writing is on the wall” for the eventual transition to cloud … Here are the top university data breaches in 2019 that shook the cybersecurity world. Run every aspect of your business with ticketing, project management, billing and CRM. Share page. Here are a few tips leaders should keep in mind: Start with a security risk assessment. It would be “disastrous if any of this information fell into the wrong hands”, he told Times Higher Education. Higher education institutions are combating these challenges with technical controls, usage policies, and community education efforts. All-in-one IT system monitoring and management platform with powerful automation. Share . These exchanges were poorly monitored, causing malware. If you’re concerned your … While education lags behind industries such as finance, healthcare and public administration in total breach volume, Verizon’s “ 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report ” notes an uptick in both the volume of confirmed data disclosure attacks in education — 99 of 382 incidents — and in the variety of threats. An MSP Platform that lets you manage the technology needs of small business - simply, efficiently, and from anywhere. This predicament is too lucrative for cybercriminals to turn down. Malicious actors target institutional data because it pays off. The suit was filed by victims who claimed WSU’s data security was at best ‘questionable’. How do colleges convert broad threat vectors and specific attack types into real-world, relevant and reliable cybersecurity best practices? This study explores data breaches in higher education institutions. Adoption of mobile technologies by colleges and universities has contributed to increased malicious attacks. According to ZDNet, one university recently disclosed a data breach that saw the personally identifiable information (PII) of both students and families compromised after an incident in May, and similar incidents were reported earlier this year by other institutions. Here, post-secondary institutions benefit from a five-factor approach: Cybersecurity trends offer big-picture views of potential post-secondary risk. Higher Education Data Breaches Draw Response from Federal Agencies Michael Best & Friedrich LLP USA July 29 2019 Higher education institutions have long been a … Colleges Optimize Traffic on Busy Residence Hall Networks, Universities Partner with Cities to Boost Budgets for Technology Projects, EDUCAUSE 2018: Software-Defined Networks Advance Research Computing, Q&A: Center for CIO Studies’ Wayne Brown Explains How IT Leaders Need to Communicate, a new public service announcement from IC3 and the FBI, Assessment is the first step in effective cybersecurity, Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Toolkit (HECVAT), IBM and HBCUs Partner in New Quantum Center, 3 Ways to Adapt Your Cybersecurity Messaging for Generation Z, Simplify Device Procurement with the Right IT Partner, Review: SonicWall TZ400 Firewall Brings Advanced Security to Higher Education, EDUCAUSE 2018: 6 Culture Changes to Pave the Way for Digital Transformation. Indiatoday.in has reported that the popular Chinese smartphone manufacturer, OnePlus, has suffered a significant data breach. Of those, 2,013 were confirmed data breaches. In addition, a new public service announcement from IC3 and the FBI recommends against paying any ransom because there’s no guarantee attackers will provide valid decryption keys. According to the statistic provided by Verizon’s annual Data Breach Investigations Report, the frequency of security breaches affecting universities multiplied almost ten times. Every 39 seconds hackers win. This trio of attack vectors — ransomware, phishing emails and existing vulnerabilities — leverage a worrisome take on the “three Vs” of Big Data: MORE ON CYBERSECURITY: Check out why K–12 schools should choose to upgrade to a next-generation firewall. Written by Betsy Foresman May 10, 2019 | EDSCOOP The education sector is afflicted by many different kinds of threats, from software errors, social engineering attacks and inadequately secured email credentials, according to annual cross-industry analysis of cybersecurity … Engage, ask and answer questions and interact with other Pulseway users to share and collaborate ideas. Verizon recently released its 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), which looked at 41,686 security incidents. Campuses are struggling with effective cybersecurity. Be on top of everything happening in your infrastructure and neutralize issues before they can cause any real damage — all from a single pane of glass. Those technical controls include: 1. Copy link ... and the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi), showed a 100% success rate in getting through the … Cyberattacks on higher education institutions are on the rise, ... Verizon’s 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report suggests that espionage is the motive behind 11 percent of attacks on educational institutions. From a data security perspective, such institutions are important because they hold vast amounts of data belonging to a large portion of the population. In March 2019, hackers accessed admission information from colleges in Oberlin, Hamilton, and Grinnell. Access control and data encryption protocols 3. So, what’s the solution? Hackers acquired the data from an unprotected microsite dating all the way back to 2004. Disclosing the identity of these students may have been a part of international espionage to leverage information as the elites of the world study in this institute. Adobe. 3 April 2019. A malware attack on portable hard drives containing confidential patient information was breached. Interestingly, Greenwich is the first university to be fined under the Data Protection Act of 1998. “There’s no doubt the collection of data as a valuable asset has become commonplace in higher education: ... Educational institutions house large amounts of personal information but may not be equipped with enough network security to prevent breaches. Security breaches occur through hacking, disclosure, physical loss of data, portable, and stationary devices affecting the institutions negatively. This was due to an employee falling prey to a phishing scam. On January 7, 2019, the college confirmed the identities of the people whose data had been compromised. … The vulnerability found in Georgia Tech’s web application speaks to the risks of higher-ed data breaches–risks academic institutions and businesses face daily. Educational institutions have been slow to embrace network security strategies. Get our specially created content designed to show how Pulseway can really transform your IT operations. Universities and colleges hit by cyberattacks don’t just suffer immediate damages. And, there is a good chance one of them would be a university. Here are the savviest higher education IT leaders, bloggers, podcasters and social media personalities you should follow. ... ($160,000) as fine for a security breach which compromised personal data of 19500 students. Not only are security breaches in higher education costs but they tarnish the reputation of the breached institution.