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Since the beginning of the year, several institutions of higher education have reported data breaches. Due to the number of individuals that trust their personal information with the schools - including past and present students, staff and faculty - universities and colleges must do more to secure their technological assets and prevent these types of events from happening in the future.

Recent university breaches
In Late February, Reuters reported that Indiana University experienced a breach would may have compromised the personal data of approximately 146,000 students and graduates. The affected information included individuals' addresses and Social Security numbers, which could be leveraged for fraudulent activity. Those who attended the school from 2011 to 2014 at any of its seven campuses could be impacted by the breach. A statement released by the university noted that the content was accessed by three automated data-mining programs known as webcrawlers that are utilized to enhance search engine abilities.

The University of Maryland also reported two separate breaches this year, including a large scale infiltration occurring on Feb. 18 which affecting records of approximately 288,000 individuals connected with the school. According to NBC Washington, the university reported a second breach on March 20. While the second instance is still being investigated, the source reported that a cybercriminal had accessed the institution's computer network to view personal information.

Security tips to boost on-campus protection
These instances illustrate the need for boosted security measures on campus to better safeguard the information of students, graduates, educators and other employees connected with the institutions. One of the first steps to take in these regards is to review the content being collected and stored by the school and identify the information that could be a potential target for hackers. That way, administrators have a clear picture of the sensitive data being housed and they can take steps to protect it.

For instance, these materials can be stored in a secure database and protected with encryption. Such technology, available through the use of an SSL certificate, safeguards information by scrambling it, effectively making it unreadable to any unauthorized viewers.

Additionally, schools should seek to protect their network resources and connected hardware as well. Network-level security like monitoring technology can alert administrators as to any suspicious activity taking place through the school's Internet connection, enabling them to investigate and stop the malicious practice, thereby mitigating associated risks. Decision makers should also set up individual profiles for students and staff accessing the network. This way, each person is identified before being granted admission to the organization's Internet resources.

Furthermore, universities should also provide monitoring programs for students to install on their desktop computers or mobile devices. When these endpoints connect to the network, they could be providing a vulnerable point for hackers to exploit and gain entry to sensitive content if hardware is not protected. Antivirus and other applications can detect malware infections and prevent them from entering the overall network by alerting the user and prompting removal.

Protect data in transit with an SSL certificate today.

corporate office

Thawte
The Gateway
Century Lane
Century City, 7441
Cape Town
South Africa

Postal Address:
P O Box 15986
Panorama 7500
Cape Town
South Africa

Call: +353 1 793 9141
Fax: +27 21 819 2950