Campus Safety & Security: 4 Ways to a Secure Higher Education Network
Per a report, the cybersecurity market is expected to hit $130,460 MM by 2021 from $840,40 MM in 2016 and $658,80 MM in 2013. What do you think could be the reason behind this massive surge? Security breaches making headlines everyday demand cutting-edge technology solutions to counter the damage.
Higher Ed institutions stand amongst the top targets, when it comes to security breaches. This clearly points towards the urgency of coming up with a robust plan to shield such security threats from penetrating the system. If you are still among the handful of people, committed to securing accounts with only passwords, then it is time you wake up and get out of the rock you have been living under for so long.
Well, cybercriminals are smart enough to hack the systems and break into your systems by breaking those set passwords and codes. Not only this, you won’t even know about the intrusion for months. Having said that, I cannot help but mention the old maxim – “Prevention is better than the cure”; as taking preventive measures against cyber breaches can be far better than taking a heavy blow in the end, which may even lead to shutting down of the business.
Technology is a bliss; indeed; however, it also tags along the obligation of leveraging it in a secure way. It depends how leaders of the organization are directing others about cybersecurity measure. Some of the steps that must be taken to ensure a secure higher education network are:
- Educate your users: As a first step, the users must be aware of multiple way outs to get rid of all the scams and phishing attacks. They should be provided proper training around different cyber scams and how can they stay clear of obvious security attacks.
- Identifying the potential risks: It is crucial to identify the potential risks of cyber stacks that an organization may face in the future. Only then, preventive measures could be planned and worked upon.
- Peer collaboration & involvement: It should not just be the responsibility of IT staff to take care of all the phishing emails that flows in a campus; on the contrary, the whole staff of the organization should be alert and pass on the dubious and questionable information to the IT and security staff for further actions.
- Annual checks and incident responses: An institution must collect information on all the cyber breaches and security threats that has been taken place annually or every six
The Bottom Line Is
Technology is a bliss for higher ed and the way the higher ed space is embracing the changes that technology innovations are pushing forth, promise of a better student experience is beyond the shadow of a doubt. However, cyberbreaches and threats are making headlines every other day and escaping that can come across as a big problem to many, which may further lead to the denial when it comes to accepting technology inclusions in classrooms. However, the best way out is to take preventive measures at campus and make the most of the technology advancements alongside. What do you say?
