By Kounal Gupta
Education and the learning system have undergone a myriad of changes in the last few years. The reliance on technology has surged, and the institutions have adopted several new pedagogy methods to cater to the changing needs of the learners. With online and hybrid learning gaining prevalence, institutes have been storing and transmitting massive amounts of sensitive data. This data has been successfully leveraged with the help of AI to provide personalised learning experiences, adaptive learning platforms, virtual tutoring, and more. However, with this digital transformation, there is a need to protect individual data, owing to rising concerns about cyberattacks.
According to a report by CheckPoint, India faced 2108 weekly attacks in 2022, and the education sector was the most targeted by hackers. With several cybersecurity threats looming, it has become crucial to take significant steps to ensure the digital security of an individual’s data. However, before addressing the solutions, let us look at some of the cybersecurity threats that are commonly faced by individuals.
Cyber threats plaguing the education sector
Data breaches: Institutions have a lot of private information about students, faculty, staff, and other parties. These may include their financial information, academic and medical data, contact details, and more. One of the most frequent cyber occurrences is a data breach, which is the unauthorised access to these data.
Phishing: In a phishing attack, hackers take advantage of individuals in a bid to deceive them into divulging personal data, such as passwords. Phishing usually takes place via social media or email messaging.
Ransomware: It is a kind of malicious software that finds sensitive information on a target machine and demands a ransom payment to access it.
SQL Injection: An SQL injection occurs when a hacker inserts malicious code into a website query field of an institution. The hacker has access to protected data through the rogue code, which they can then modify by erasing or introducing new information.
As hackers get more sophisticated with their attacks, the need of the hour is to adapt security measures to protect an individual’s data.
Ensuring digital security
Anonymization and data minimization: Organisations can employ AI systems to reduce the quantity of personally identifiable information (PII) gathered and anonymize data in order to solve data privacy concerns.
Data encryption: To protect sensitive data, it is essential to use robust encryption methods. Data is protected while it is in transit and at rest, thanks to encryption. By using end-to-end encryption, user interactions and private data can be shielded from unwanted access.
Access control: Strict access controls ensure that only systems or people with permission can view and alter the data they manage. Furthermore, to reduce the risk of unauthorised access and data breaches, role-based access control (RBAC) techniques can be used to restrict access based on user roles.
Secure data storage: By using secure cloud infrastructure or on-premises servers, institutes can implement safe data storage practises and guarantee that user data is kept in a secure environment.
All things considered
Technology presents exciting new opportunities in the education sector; however, in order to ensure responsible and ethical deployment, concerns about digital security and data privacy must be carefully addressed. Thus, putting strong security measures in place is essential to safeguarding user information and reducing cybersecurity threats in the educational sector.
In this context, an all-encompassing security strategy must include cybersecurity measures like encryption, access controls, anonymization, and safe data storage techniques. By implementing these procedures, educational institutions can improve user data availability, confidentiality, and integrity. This will help to build trust in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) while protecting individual’s data from security risks.
The author is founder,CEO,Henry Harvin Education
