Higher Education Must Balance Openness and Security

SonicWall and Campus Technology offer a look at the latest trends and some of the most pressing IT security challenges that higher education faces today, including escalating cyber threats, an increase in both the number of devices and sensitive data, and the balancing act between openness and security. Colleges and universities are designed to be a free marketplace of ideas, with openness, creative expression, research and curiosity fundamentals of the educational experience. The unique cybersecurity challenge that higher education institutions face is how to secure students, faculty and staff against the rising tide of cybercrime while still allowing information to flow as freely as possible. This is the first in a three-part series exploring how to respond to today’s rapidly shifting threat landscape. Part 2 provides a playbook for how best to approach these challenges, and in Part 3, experts in higher education cybersecurity answer some of the most common questions and offer practical firsthand advice on how to manage information security at the post-secondary level.