• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

My TechDecisions

  • Best of Tech Decisions
  • Topics
    • Video
    • Audio
    • Mobility
    • Unified Communications
    • IT Infrastructure
    • Network Security
    • Physical Security
    • Facility
    • Compliance
  • RFP Resources
  • Resources
  • Podcasts
  • Project of the Week
  • About Us
    SEARCH
Network Security

5 Things Your College Needs to Know About Network Attacks & Security Trends

EDUCAUSE attendee and Vice President of U.S. Education sales at Fortinet, Bryan Wood, talks about cybersecurity trends and tips to keeping a college network safe.

November 11, 2015 Jessica Kennedy Leave a Comment

1. What are currently the biggest security threats colleges are seeing today?

Higher education is an inherently complex landscape, striking a balance between an open learning environment and protecting resources that make that learning environment possible. Security needs to be robust without impeding learning. Students are rapidly accelerating the number of devices being introduced to the network, which is greatly increasing the attack surface. The influx of disparate devices combined with a widened attack surface present some of the greatest security challenges in higher education today. Add that to the fact that higher education institutions are rich targets for outside attackers trying to access copious amounts of personal data, and it becomes evident that IT has a monumental task to ensure a secure environment.

Vice President of U.S. Education sales at Fortinet, Bryan Wood.

2. What are some technologies colleges can use to up security against these threats?

DDoS attacks are growing significantly in education. Motives range from students trying to cripple the network to interrupt testing to outside attacks attempting to infiltrate valuable data and personal information. Needless to say, a solution that will help alleviate DDoS attacks is key for any higher education environment as these attacks will continue to surface. Additionally, robust visibility and protection at the firewall level will help mitigate threats to an institution. Segmenting different parts of the network (from a firewall perspective) will also help ensure that should an attack get through, it will be contained within a limited scope.

3. What trends do you see occurring in cybersecurity in higher education?

Two trends stick out in my mind in higher education: first is the desire to move applications and data into a cloud environment. Most schools I have talked to are looking for a hybrid approach between on prem and cloud-based deployments. What remains consistent is that they want to ensure the same security exists at both levels. A second trend is focusing on how to secure research traffic. The typical challenge here is around scalability as research networks are scaling out into 100GB environments. Nevertheless, there is a great deal of valuable intellectual property that a school must protect.

4. What are some tips you would give to colleges to better equip their campus against threats?

Higher education tends to be a communal experience between institutions. Unlike many other vertical markets, there is a willingness to share information, best practices, buying decisions, etc. I have attended conferences, advisory boards and user groups where helpful information has been shared back and forth on topics such as security best practices, how to run a proof of concept and how to integrate different elements into a security infrastructure. Colleges should capitalize on this environment, as it can provide a wealth of information.

5. Where do you see the future of security heading for in 2016?

Many institutions are seeking the balance between security and scale. Device proliferation and increasing bandwidth are driving the need to plan more creatively for the next three to five years. Security is paramount and must be a top priority for any higher education environment. However, providing scalability and protecting their investment is also key to a successful deployment of any infrastructure.

If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our digital newsletters!

Jessica Kennedy
Jessica Kennedy

Jessica Kennedy is an editor at TechDecisions Media, targeting the higher education market. Jessica joined the TechDecisions team in 2014 and covers technologies that improve teaching and learning.

Tagged With: Data Backup & Recovery, Higher Ed, Malware Protection

Related Content:

  • Cybersecurity and information or network protection. Future technology web services for business and internet project CrowdStrike Cyber Armageddon: How Do Firms Now Build…
  • DDoS, NETSCOUT Arbor Insight 7 Layers of DDoS Attacks and How To…
  • cisco webex-rooms-modern-space AVI-SPL Receives Cisco 2023 Reimagine Workspaces Partner of…
  • data breach Nearly 900 Schools Impacted by National Student Clearinghouse…

Free downloadable guide you may like:

  • Download TechDecisions' Blueprint Series report on Security Awareness now!Blueprint Series: Why Your Security Awareness Program is Probably Falling Short

    Learn about the evolution of phishing attacks and best practices for security awareness programs to ensure your organization is properly prepared to defend against them in this report from TechDecisions' Blueprint Series.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest Downloads

Practical Design Guide for Office Spaces
Practical Design Guide for Office Spaces

Recent Gartner research shows that workers prefer to return to the office for in-person meetings for relevant milestones, as well as for face-to-fa...

New Camera Can Transform Your Live Production Workflow
New Camera System Can Transform Your Live Production Workflow

Sony's HXC-FZ90 studio camera system combines flexibility and exceptional image quality with entry-level pricing.

Creating Great User Experience and Ultimate Flexibility with Clickshare

Working and collaborating in any office environment today should be meaningful, as workers today go to office for very specific reasons. When desig...

View All Downloads

Would you like your latest project featured on TechDecisions as Project of the Week?

Apply Today!

More from Our Sister Publications

Get the latest news about AV integrators and Security installers from our sister publications:

Commercial IntegratorSecurity Sales

AV-iQ

Footer

TechDecisions

  • Home
  • Welcome to TechDecisions
  • Contact Us
  • Comment Guidelines
  • RSS Feeds
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linkedin

Free Technology Guides

FREE Downloadable resources from TechDecisions provide timely insight into the issues that IT, A/V, and Security end-users, managers, and decision makers are facing in commercial, corporate, education, institutional, and other vertical markets

View all Guides
TD Project of the Week

Get your latest project featured on TechDecisions Project of the Week. Submit your work once and it will be eligible for all upcoming weeks.

Enter Today!
Emerald Logo
ABOUTCAREERSAUTHORIZED SERVICE PROVIDERSYour Privacy ChoicesTERMS OF USEPRIVACY POLICY

© 2025 Emerald X, LLC. All rights reserved.