"NINJIO Releases Report Focused On Increasing Necessity for Human-Based Cybersecurity in Higher Education"
The cybersecurity awareness training company NINJIO has published a comprehensive report on cyber threats faced by higher education institutions and the sector's unique vulnerabilities. Universities are high-value targets for cybercriminals because they handle massive amounts of sensitive data, including research data and student records. Moreover, university networks' size, complexity, and openness exacerbate the cybersecurity challenges they confront. According to the report, faculty, students, and all university stakeholders must be trained to recognize cyber threats and take appropriate action against them. Cyberattacks in higher education are rising, and the report examines how universities can combat them by implementing behavior-based, end-to-end cyber awareness solutions. In addition, the report describes how university administrators and Information Technology (IT) teams struggle to keep up with the evolution of cybercriminal tactics. Since millions of students, professors, and researchers use interconnected digital systems for online instruction, record-keeping, and more daily, cybercriminals have numerous opportunities to exploit user errors. More than a third of the errors that led to breaches in the education sector in 2022 were caused by emails sent to the wrong individuals or with the wrong attachments, while ransomware accounted for more than 30 percent of breaches. This article continues to discuss NINJIO's recommendations on how universities can build a culture of cybersecurity awareness at every level.