As higher education organizations are gearing up for a new wave of matriculating students this fall, they've got to deal with more than just scheduling and housing concerns. They've also got to figure out how to keep prying eyes from compromising those student's private information. Over the last several years, the education sector has been struggling to keep up with IT security protections, suffering a spate of embarrassing breaches that put student, faculty and staff information at risk for identity theft. Database security vendor AppSec Inc. recently released a report on the state of higher education data breaches. Here are the highlights.
of
Since 2008, higher education institutions have been hit with 158 data breaches.
These institutions have been responsible for exposing over 2.3 million records.
Considering the current Ponemon Institute figures for the average cost of a data breach—$204 per record—these education breaches have totaled nearly half a billion dollars in costs for affected organizations.
In 2009 organizations experienced 57 reported data breaches.
Through July 2010 there have been 32 reported breaches at higher education institutions, putting 2010 on pace to break last year's figures.
Higher education ranks as the second-most prone vertical to data breaches (behind financials), making up 21 percent of all reported breaches.
Recent analyst reports show that only 50 U.S. universities plan to increase their IT security spending in 2010.
While database breaches account for 75 percent of total data breaches, less than four percent of education IT budgets are being spent on database security.
Intel Technology Provider Program
Intel Technology Provider Program (ITP) helps resellers better understand Intel products which power the technology they sell, and enables value-add services such as remote manageability or anti-theft tracking. Learn More
WindowsForDevices.com
WindowsForDevices.com is the comprehensive news site covering Windows embedded technologies. Visitors get news, technical white papers, opinion columns and extensive directories covering the products and companies in the marketplace. Click Here
10 Key Ingredients That Have Made Apple So Successful
10 Reasons RIM`s New CEO Won`t Fix the Company
Eight IT Jobs Skills That Win Six-Figure Salaries
Social Media Best Practices to Land that Dream Job
Channel Executives On The Move: 2012
Why SOPA Is Such A Big Issue
See All Slideshows
