Network Security Threats to Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly changed the way higher education institutions (HEIs) operate around the world. Distance learning has become the unique opportunity that the process further education in conditions where most economic activities were put on hold. To ensure the quality of distance learning have been implemented and used extensively online learning platforms, applications, video conferencing and cloud computing facilities in HEIs. However, this has increased the threats to information security, so that in 2020, in the field of education in general, and HEIs in particular, the number of cyber-attacks has increased, which has led to significant financial losses but also to activity interruption and theft of personal data or intellectual property. In order to identify the biggest threats of the 2020 year, for HEIs, several security reports and scientific articles related to the studied field were analyzed, in order to identify the most common security threats. As a result, of the research conducted, the top Cyber threats of HEIs are: malware attacks, DoS / DDos attacks and phishing attacks. Securing university networks in 2020 was a challenge for specialists in this field.

Information Security Awareness in Sub-Saharan African Schools: The Role of Educational Leadership in Turbulent Times

“…Studies have shown that a significant percentage of college populations have experienced negative impacts of cyberspace threats, including fear, anxiety, and embarrassment [56]. The COVID-19 pandemic has further increased the threats to information security in higher education institutions, with malware attacks, DoS/DDoS attacks, and phishing attacks being the most common [57]. The active use of IT in various sectors makes corporate information security crucial as cyberattacks can result in significant financial losses and reputational ruin.…”

Exploring Cybersecurity Implications in Higher Education

“…According to Alexei and Alexei, (2021b), criminals are now interested in collecting students' personal information, which they then utilize in phishing attempts due to hybrid learning. Due to the personal information and data they hold including identity numbers, staff and student intellectual property, higher education institutions are targets of cybercrime (Alexei, 2021a;Fouad, 2021;Fishman et al, 2018). Due to the shift to hybrid learning, these institutions are now targets, which raises the danger and volume of cybersecurity incidents in the sector (Ulven & Wangen, 2021).…”

“…According to Maranga and Nelson (2019), higher education institutions in Kenya must deal with issues that include insecure personal areas where employees, teachers and students are allowed to bring their own devices. More than 25% of phishing attacks in the UK's education sector in 2020 targeted university platforms, email, and video conferencing software (Amoresano & Yankson, 2023;Alexei, 2021a). Due to changes in teaching methods, the majority of employees now work from home, which calls for caution because people can become victims of data breaches (Georgiadou et al, 2022).…”

Implementing Design Science Research Method to Develop a Cyber Security Framework for HEIs in Moldova

“…Thus, cyber security will play an increasingly important role in the activity of HEIs, in the next period. Cyber security has been defined by the International Communications Union (ITU) to mean "a collection of tools, policies, security concepts, security safeguards, guidelines, risk management approaches, actions, training, best practices, assurance and technologies that can be used to protect the cyber environment, and organization and user's assets" [3]. Researchers recommend the implementation of cybersecurity frameworks, to achieve proper protection in the campus network [6], [7].…”