The past five years have seen a quick transition from traditional classrooms to virtual classrooms and online courses. Although the shift to digital has created more opportunities for students and educators alike, it has also left room for cybercrime and made demonstrating regulatory compliance an uphill battle.
Schools are becoming appealing targets for cybercriminals as they hold sensitive information about students and staff, therefore preventive cybersecurity techniques are crucial to averting possible breaches. Earlier this year, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said Malaysia recorded an average of 3,000 cyberattacks a day.
Unfortunately, when schools, colleges, and other educational institutions are hit with ransomware and identities are compromised, it puts them under scrutiny from local governments, communities, and even students. Adopting an identity governance and administration (IGA) framework can assist educational institutions in keeping an eye on user identities. With the right solution, they can guarantee smooth resource access, manage a variety of user groups, and safeguard critical data.
Why every school needs an IGA solution
The IDC predicts that security spending in Asia Pacific excluding Japan will increase at a five-year compound annual growth rate of 12.8%, reaching USD 52 billion by 2027. Because cyberattacks are becoming more likely as more individuals and organizations depend on digital systems, it’s necessary for educational institutions to defend their sensitive information and vital infrastructure from these dangers.
According to an incident report received by the Cyber999 Incident Response Centre in Malaysia, a private educational institution was targeted by a RansomHub infection. “Victims are typically given three to 90 days to pay the ransom before the ransomware group publishes their data on the RansomHub Tor data leak site.” While this was the only reported incident, there could be more unreported incidents.
When schools are hit with a data leak, they may be severely impacted. Yet with limited resources, it can be difficult for them to bolster their defences against cyberattacks. This is when having a complete IGA solution in place can help alleviate a range of security challenges and automate many manual operations.
Ensuring that personal data is secure
An increasing number of educational institutions are assessing their cybersecurity protocols and implementing tangible actions to fortify and strengthen the safeguarding of student information. The sensitive data they store and manage, including financial, personal, and student records, must be secured. Unauthorised access to this kind of information may result in privacy violations, security lapses, and identity theft.
Educational institutions can ensure that only authorised workers have access to such sensitive data by implementing role-based access control (RBAC). Staff members, such as instructors, administrators, or IT support, can be assigned custom roles with particular permissions. This will automatically grant them the necessary level of access while also monitoring the permissions granted to users and groups within the educational institution.
Simplifying the administration of users and access
The user base of educational institutions is typically diversified. It comprises students, staff members, teachers, and sometimes parents. The access permissions needed by each of these user groups to data and resources will vary. It can be challenging, time-consuming, and error-prone to manually manage every person and their different degrees of access.
These are the measures that can simplify the administration of users and access:
- Setting up a strong password policy that includes password rotation and MFA.
- Periodic cleanup of the directory to remove inactive identities.
- Periodic audits to track any changes.
- Enabling self-service to end users with automation.
Compliance and reporting
Education institutions must abide by the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) and the Education Act 1996 (Act 550), a law that governs all aspects of education, including the establishment, management, and funding of educational institutions, whether public or government-aided. Educational institutions can protect their institution from cyberattacks and stop data breaches by investing in the right IGA. It increases security, assures compliance, and streamlines user management while lowering the IT workload.
Protecting information with modern technology
Organisations must simultaneously raise the level of cybersecurity as education increases its dependence on online learning and digital engagement. Establishing enterprise-level security is necessary due to an increased danger of attacks in the education sector.
The need of the hour is better collaboration between units and use of the latest technologies in IGA. If these two can be achieved, educational institutions in Malaysia will be empowered to identify potential threats better and in advance.
