Modern educational institutions operate in a digitally-driven environment. As we know, the extensive use of digital technologies is associated not only with new opportunities but also with risks and challenges.
Unfortunately, educational institutions, more than other organizations, are threatened by cyberattacks. This article will explain why it’s so and why effective data backup is crucially important.
Are cyberattacks a real thing?
Every month, cyber hackers choose a new victim among educational institutions. Thousands of schools, colleges, and universities worldwide have already suffered from cyber and ransomware attacks.
Let’s consider a few cases that prove that cyberattacks are a real threat to educational institutions.
Case #1
South and City College Birmingham, UK, experienced a cyberattack on March 13, 2020. The college administration called the incident a “major ransomware attack” – hackers encrypted computer systems and said they would only release them if a ransom is paid. The college was forced to close all its campuses to students for a week.
Mike Hopkins, principal of South & City College Birmingham, tweeted about the ransomware attack.
Case #2
The University of California got attacked by the cyber gang NetWalker in summer 2020. University officials transferred 116.4 bitcoins – the equivalent of US$1.14 million – and received the key to decrypt university files in return.
Case #3
The Peel District School Board (PDSB) serves about 155,000 at more than 257 Canadian schools. It was attacked by cybercriminals in January 2020. Hackers encrypted PDSB files and systems.
Case #4
The Harris Federation, which runs 50 primary and secondary academies in and around London, experienced a severe cyberattack that affected 40,000 pupils. The cyber incident happened at the end of March 2020. The educational institution was forced to temporarily disable email to fix the problem.
Case #5
In summer 2019, cybercriminals attacked Monroe College, a for-profit institution in New York City. The cyberattack disabled the college’s website, learning management system, and email. Hackers demanded payment of around $2 million in Bitcoin to restore access.
Monroe College tweeted about the cyberattack and apologized for the course disruption.
Why are educational institutions a cyberattack favorite?
Educational institutions suffer from cyberattacks more than other organizations. There are a few reasons that explain this phenomenon.
Easy access to a big database of PII
Cybercriminals attack colleges and universities because they are a goldmine for personally identifiable information (PII). Higher education institutions store not only the data of students but also the personal data of their alumni and employees. Hackers can steal sensitive data such as bank account information and social security numbers and further use it to apply for loans, credit cards and making fraudulent insurance claims.
Educational institutions are “wealthy enough”
In most cases, hackers have a strong financial motivation – they attack organizations to get a ransom. Naturally, they choose organizations that can afford to pay a ransom. As a rule, well-established educational institutions play the roles of perfect victims – they have a high steady income, yet they are less prepared for attacks than for-profit organizations.
A high number of users and devices
Students and employees use not only college-owned computers but also their personal phones, tablets, and laptops. Naturally, the more devices are connected to one network, the more challenging it is to keep this network safe and secured. If one student clicks on a phishing link, it may affect the entire college system.
Young people are easy targets
Melissa Mauro, who works at the best online writing service, says: “High schoolers and college students know little or nothing about cybersecurity. They are more likely than other users to click on phishing links, visit suspicious websites, and complete other actions that can ease the work of the hackers.”
Multiple ways to enter the system
Another problem is that educational institutions provide users with easy access to numerous apps and databases. It means cybercriminals have more opportunities to enter the system.
Why it’s important to use educational backup services?
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, many schools have to cut expenses to stay afloat. Pretty often, educational institutions choose to cut costs associated with cybersecurity. And that’s a problem. In today’s digital world, cybersecurity is more important than ever.
Here are five reasons why the use of reliable educational backup services must be a priority for every organization.
Financial risk prevention
Let’s talk about the educational institutions that don’t back up important data. How can they deal with a cyberattack if it happens? They have no other option but to pay the ransom.
If they don’t transfer money to hackers’ accounts, they will lose access to databases that include information about their students, professors, course, finances, and research. The system will fail, and educators will not be able to fix the problem. The work of the entire educational institution will be paralyzed.
The amount of ransom can be any amount from $10,000 to $2,000,000 – that’s a huge financial loss for colleges and universities of any level. Educational institutions must protect themselves from paying a ransom – they should back up all essential data in advance. In such a case, even if attackers threaten to delete the data, IT specialists will be able to retrieve data from backup files. There will be no need to pay a ransom.
Severe system disruption
Hackers are real criminals. They do not always keep their promises. Even if the college agrees to pay a ransom, there is no guarantee that hackers will provide the key to decrypt files. Some hackers take both: money and files - they leave little chance for the college system to survive.
The use of educational backup service is a must for every college, school, and university. If an educational institution loses access to the academic performance database as well as course materials and research papers, that will lead to the collapse of the system.
Protection of reputation
Modern people do care about cybersecurity, and they want their personal data to be protected. One recent study shows that 87% of consumers are willing to choose another service provider (choose another educational institution) if, or when, a data breach occurs.
In other words, if a college experiences a cyberattack – that will negatively affect its reputation. News about the cybersecurity incident will scare prospective students away. Consequently, the college will lose popularity and revenue.
Protection of intellectual property
Colleges and universities invest lots of money in researches and longitudinal studies. They conduct long-term experiments to make new findings, register patents, and design innovative formulas.
As a rule, all research data is stored in one system. If the system gets disrupted, there will be a risk that an educational institution will lose its valuable developments. It’s necessary to back up data to ensure that research and development investments will not be lost or wasted.
Compliance with GDPR
The European Parliament adopted the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in April 2016. Its primary purpose is to bring data protection rules up-to-date with contemporary concerns around personal information use. GDPR requirements apply to all data processed by organizations, including the data used and stored by educational institutions.
The GDPR set a maximum fine of €20 million or 4% of annual global turnover – whichever is greater – for infringements. Educational institutions will have to deal with huge penalties in case of a data breach.
How can educational institutions manage backups?
Now let’s talk about the things educational institutions should consider choosing the right data backup strategy.
Data classification
Schools store a wide range of files. Not all of those files are equally important.
All collected data (files) fall into three categories of “importance”:
Level I. Sensitive and private data: students’ social security numbers, employees’ bank account information, etc.
Level II. Data that only staff and students use: learning materials, e-receipts, dissertations, research papers, etc.
Level III. Publicly available information: web content, blog posts, social media content.
Organizations must back up Level I data in the first place and then decide how to secure Level II and Level III data. Separation of levels is needed for boosting cybersecurity efforts.
This cybersecurity strategy is used by the vast majority of educational platforms. For instance, best term paper writing service divide data by levels – they back up research paper databases separately from customer credit card data. It allows edtech companies to establish the highest security standards.
Cloud storage and backup solutions
Cloud storage is a great alternative to on-premise data storage. It saves money and space while also significantly enhances security. In case of a cyberattack incident, an educational institution can retrieve backed-up files and restore the system.
Just keep in mind that not all cloud storage providers comply with GDPR. Choose a provider mindfully to make sure that your educational institution will not get a penalty.
Are cyberattacks the only reason to back up files?
Cyberattack is one of the main, but not the only problem that educational institutions may face. Here are a few cases in which backup files may come in handy:
A professor has accidentally deleted a grade book file while trying to import grades from Google Classroom.
A syncing glitch resulted in the loss of course materials.
A student has accidentally deleted his comments on a discussion board on Blackboard.
Students accidentally deleted their assignments created through slides that were linked to Google Classroom.
Sensitive data has become corrupted due to failed attempt to migrate data to a new device.
Wrapping up
In an ever-changing, technology-driven world, data backup is not an option, it’s a necessity.
Every educational institution, regardless of its location and financial opportunities, needs to invest in effective data backup solutions. It’s the only right way to secure sensitive data and prevent cyber incidents, or at least minimize their negative effect.
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