In an era when online learning activities are increasingly common to people, have you noticed the risks of cybersecurity in the education sector?

Remote teaching and learning activities as part of the digital transformation process in the digital field, are inevitable. Of course, the use of this mass technology requires strong cybersecurity, as a fundamental key to keeping organizations operating effectively and efficiently.

The education industry is a national or global network that relies heavily on financing from foundations. A limited budget can bring limitations in improving technology and educating cybersecurity awareness among employees and students.

Limited resources lead to a shortage of staff who can oversee cybersecurity. Lack of security experts, not to mention outdated IT infrastructure. A low cybersecurity culture and virtually non-existent security measures leave many loopholes open to cybercriminals.

There are several aspects of cybersecurity risks in educational institutions: Poorly managed endpoints and networks, risk of human error, insecure data storage, and poor user governance.

Cybersecurity is critical when using platforms and implementing secure and high-performance cloud usage. Cybersecurity is the responsibility of all parties, including governments, providers and users, to ensure that the teaching and learning process is carried out properly.

This, then, is the need for caution and vigilance for educational institutions grappling with digital transformation. The reason is that cyberattacks continue to increase against institutions that are fighting for digital transformation.

There are two types of cyberattacks common to educational institutions: Phishing attacks and Trojan horse attacks. Both attacks can result in losses, either exposing the organization's valuable information to the public and making it freely accessible to outsiders, or causing data to be lost/corrupted or unusable by the organization.

The principles of prudence and vigilance should be a lesson for every individual in today's digital age. One of them is to maximize security features such as using Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), always backing up your data, and encrypting all important data and communication lines.

The motivation for cyber attacks is usually based on criminal intent to cause financial losses. Therefore, it is not uncommon for financial institutions or the health sector to fall into a higher risk of cyber threats. However, it may come as a surprise that the education sector is also a prime target for digital threat actors.

This risk applies to private and public educational institutions (schools, colleges and universities), science research institutes, and educational service providers. The problem of being attacked lies in severely inadequate security readiness and an unplanned shift to an online environment when the pandemic hit school routines.

Cyber attacks in the education industry cause major problems, resulting in data breaches, operational disruptions, reputational damage, and financial losses that affect the trust of education service recipients.

Identifying security gaps and assessing the level of risks and vulnerabilities allows organizations to gain a clearer perspective on developing cybersecurity strategies and awareness among their members.

For cybersecurity issues at your educational institution, collaborating with third parties is the solution. Of course, the vendor must be ISO 27001 certified, have good data security experience, and be trustworthy. Discuss this with Telkom DWS!