In: Computer Science
Please answer these questions in a detailed paragraph.
What attracts cyberattacks to universities?
What are the most common attack methods and approaches for mitigating those attacks?
Please use a reference to answer each question and
please add the reference links. Also, make sure these answers are
plagiarism free.
Thanks
Cyber attacks on higher education threaten the security of
intellectual property in schools and student information. Because
universities must have an open network for their students and staff
to have access to it, hijackers have more access to the system.
With sensitive information at risk, universities must take
appropriate steps to prevent attacks using software to detect
threats and other system improvements. These enhancements must also
comply with most regulations. Finding balance in preparing your
system is key to preventing security breaches.
University Cyberattacks: Why Do They Occur?
Tertiary institutions face different threats to their data security. The hackers drew directly to universities with sensitive information stored in their systems. Unlike merchants, whose details include credit card numbers and other customer statistics, universities often handle patent research data in their operations.
Chinese hijackers have identified 27 universities to try to steal their research findings used by U.S. military. The hackers rounded up their efforts in April 2017 to find and break the programs of the institutions that investigated undersea technology. As of March 2019, not a single school has admitted that their systems have been compromised.
In addition to the data stored on university computers, attackers can take advantage of the wide network of applications to access other applications through emails to steal sensitive information or spam. Listing students, faculty and university staff by their email addresses becomes an important source of criminal schemes to steal sensitive information by trying to collect sensitive information by sending fake emails to users.
Cyber attacks on universities also occur frequently not because systems lack protection, but because they are so complex and complex that implementing those protections becomes difficult. As students enter the system from cell phones, the safest access method, and computers using a variety of operating systems, keeping software in all these options updated is not possible. Anonymous phones, or “prison” calls, are much more secure than other smartphones.
Managing software and hardware used to access a university network is a huge undertaking in many IT departments. Even if all users have accessed the same secure computers, the program will still face cyber security threats.
Because schools have so much sensitive information in research and personal data, IT professionals have to worry about both preventing and responding to cyber attacks. As the prevention methods improve, hackers increase their efficiency, adapting to changes in software and security policies.
Protecting the information of your tertiary institution should be a priority for your IT office. Outside of the program, you may find your office trying to recover from a serious data breach.
The following could be possible reason for cyber attacks
1) Lack of research visibility of IT
staff
When it comes to research, universities are so close to their
findings, that even IT staff has little knowledge of these critical
components of the system that they have to protect themselves from.
While research departments may not require all IT departments to
know about their courses, key IT members still need to understand
how to access information.
The IT department can’t take steps to get research data I don’t know about. Communication between researchers and IT security should be part of the planning process for any of the most critical research in the institution.
2) Open Culture
University work disseminates information to students, and the way
most students use to access at least some of this information
through the school network. Weak passwords and too many users with
access to too many locations pose a serious threat to security.
Encourage students and staff to report any emails or false messages
to the IT department and investigate the matter to see if there are
any security breaches. While the culture of open information
contributes to the sharing of information on university campuses,
if left unmanaged, it can create problems for the network. Be
prepared to teach students, faculty and staff how to be the best
users of the network to keep the system safe for everyone.
3)
Compliance with Law Enforcement
Because institutions are subject to regulations governing the
various types of data they use, ensuring compliance with all laws
should be a priority in establishing system security. Student and
staff medical service data must comply with HIPAA policies, and
other types of information must comply with regulations from FERPA,
PCI and Sarbanes-Oxley.
Building secure systems that adhere to these various needs requires planning and balance to increase security without sacrificing usability.
Higher Education Security Violations
Security breaches occur more frequently in higher education. These developments highlight the need for IT departments to embrace anti-cyber attacks. Some recent events have shown the various ways in which hackers infiltrate programs and exploit violations in various ways.
The Chinese attack on research schools in 2017 shows how even foreign hijackers will go to get information from university archives. By seeing how attractive the data of patent research is, IT staff can begin to build a more secure system to protect it.
Other common reasons for security breaches include identifying system vulnerabilities, information exploitation and data modification. While most think about how hackers use information obtained, the various methods they use to do so require further consideration. The openness of tertiary education networks puts them at risk of bullying, including:
Spoofing:
The attacker will send emails pretending to be an honest person or business.
Sniffing:
Fraud is more than deception, sniffing is a method used by hackers to take over and check network overload.
Hijacking:
Hijacking occurs when an attacker captures a single limit of digital communication between people.
Man-in-the-middle:
Similar to hijacking, the middle person occurs when attackers block digital communication between groups to learn or change. No party knows the limits, an attacker can use false credentials.
False authorization:
Hackers may use information collected from digital
communications to ensure access to protected areas.
Password cracking: Weak passwords leave programs open to potential
hackers to gain access to secure network environments.
These methods of invading systems remain constant, but once they
are internal, attackers can do more today with information on the
network than they did years ago. The new technology also introduces
new hackers that can disrupt universities and other situations.