Tips on Improving Cloud Security in Higher Education

Institutions of higher education have not historically shied away from technology, including the latest, untested, but somewhat promising, technology. This was true of cloud computing, which has not always been as rigorously tested and readily embraced in every industry’s digital transformation as it is now. But how are universities and colleges dealing with cloud security issues?

Higher education IT departments are increasingly focusing on cloud security as threats become an everyday concern. Unfortunately, a lack of staff and a lack of security awareness coupled with user behavior create the perfect storm for becoming compromised.

According to a recent Okta survey, almost 40% of apps being used by higher education facilities are now running in the cloud, but that’s expected to jump by 20% within the next few years. Can IT teams really live up to the challenges inherent to this situation? Not without an end-user behavior strategy.

Protecting Credentials

Cloud security breaches are easily accomplished by cyber criminals simply by gaining access to end user credentials. The first line of defense is education. Students, faculty and everyone else with access to the system should know the risks, and more importantly, how to protect their credentials.

Part of this education campaign can come directly from IT in the form of alerts. For example, if a particularly vicious phishing campaign is going around, sending out an alert can give end users the heads-up they need to quickly delete any malicious emails they might receive.

Authorization Protocols

IT teams that embrace the capability to authorize access limit risks associated with breaches. For example, a high-level IT employee would have the authority to access information far more sensitive than any student should be allowed to access. By establishing authentication parameters, a clear and proactive measure can be taken to limit access to information that hackers are seeking out.

Cloud identity and access management (IAM) is increasingly on the radar of IT personnel. Cloud IAM allows for the authorization protocols to be administered easily, and it is often based on various authentication parameters. An IAM system is used to verify a user’s authorization, which means instead of simply going by the identity of the user, the system ensures the user can only perform specific actions assigned to their access authorization.

Regardless of what industry you’re in, increasing involvement in cloud computing should entail having the right agent on your side. It can be a huge relief in improving cloud security.

At AMD Technology, we know how easy it is for clients to become overwhelmed, which is why we’ve developed relationships that can benefit your cloud security. Contact us today to learn more.