Cyberattacks on colleges and universities are on the rise following many institutions’ transition to online and hybrid classes.
Higher education institutions’ databases are gold mines for cybercriminals because they store massive amounts of personally identifiable information (PII) like social security numbers and payment information. If an attack is successful, cybercriminals can expose this data, risking identity theft, fraud and exorbitant costs for schools. In 2019, the average cost for data breaches in the U.S. education industry rose to $142 per record loss–$45 above the worldwide average.
