Higher Education and the New
Cybersecurity Frontier
Collaboration and the exchange of ideas within the
university setting serves as the very cornerstone
upon which these schools were built, yet the lack
of network boundaries also creates unique cybersecurity challenges.
The University of California Berkeley,
Harvard University, University of
Connecticut, Rutgers and Penn State
are all esteemed academic institutions
with many commonalities, including
their reputations as internationally
renowned research facilities.
But they also share another less appealing
quality: all have been victims of cybersecurity
breaches in recent years with impacts ranging
from compromised personal data to shutting
down systems across an entire IT network.
Higher education by its very nature is built
upon the concept of openness and the sharing
of information. Collaboration and the exchange
of ideas within the university setting serves as
the very cornerstone upon which these schools
were built, yet the lack of network boundaries
also creates unique cybersecurity challenges.
This is especially true when it comes to balancing academic research and educational missions
with the need for stronger computer controls
which can often be perceived as prohibitive or
as a constraint, especially by faculty and researchers.
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Stronger Together
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