Robust identity management bolsters security and boosts revenues in higher education

The higher education sector is highly competitive. The diverse needs of students, educators and researchers coalesce in a melting pot that drives much of our nation’s innovation. And it’s an environment that is highly targeted by threat actors. The vast troves of personal data held in student records systems, employee management and huge repositories of intellectual property are of immense value to criminals, nation state attackers and anyone trying to make a name for themselves on the dark web.

Robust identity management is a key to protecting these valuable assets. The federal government has deemed the education sector as critical infrastructure under the SOCI Act, thus putting the spotlight on this sector. 

There are significant commercial reasons for ensuring identity management and security is optimised. James Enoch, the regional Vice President for public sector and higher education at Okta, explains:

“Higher education is strongly impacted by the macroeconomic environment. High inflation and a low unemployment have led to a decline in local university enrolments. That has partially offset the rebound in international enrolments, but it is straining university revenue streams.”

The rapid shift to hybrid learning models, the pressure on budgets, need to drive up revenue and changing learning models are now being met by cybercriminals who are leveraging new tools such as generative AI and constantly looking for new vulnerabilities. This perfect storm is putting pressure on the higher education sector’s cybersecurity resources. 

Compromised user credentials are the most common source of data breaches, with Enoch adding that the cost of a breach costs higher education providers an average $3.79M. 

“From a student perspective, we really want to create seamless, secure access in a hybrid learning world,” says Enoch. “Ensuring a great user experience can help a university ensure strong revenue streams. Universities are focused on increasing conversion rates from that first experience through to registration for a degree program or a short course. Making that first log-in seamless has a strong impact on enrollment.”

Enoch says universities must embrace tools such as single sign-on, adaptive security measures that adjust the security to the risk profile, and zero trust for continuous verification. All that must be done in a way that ensures a seamless experience for members of the university community. 

View the whole iTnews State of Security report: Here