As enterprises gear up for taking online learning to the next level, lessons from universities and academic institutions will be important to remember while dealing with cybersecurity
The breakthrough of learning apps and closure of academic institutions due to Covid-19 will likely drive the need for online learning technologies and apps, further. Due to the on-going pandemic, major global institutions have announced closure for students on the ground. Most education sector players will now be focusing on online learning technologies and applications. The catch here is- the increasing cybersecurity risk in online learning operations.
Also Read : Firms Fail to Realize the Real Valuable Assets – the Cybersecurity Breach Survivors
According to news reports, attacks on online education institutes have tripled since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic. Well-established institutes are also not spared from the rising wave of cyber threats. Recently, York University announced that it met with an ‘extremely serious cyber-attack’. The attack affected its workstations, and servers, while the university maintained that the breach did not affect sensitive data.
The FBI recently made an announcement to spread awareness about increasing cybersecurity attacks. The agency advised online academies to consider risks associated with them. According to the agency, the rapid incorporation of education technology and online learning can have tremendous implications for the safety, and privacy of consumer data.
This should concern global enterprises for several reasons. Universities and academic institutions will likely go back to the physical-classroom model, once the pandemic ends. However, enterprises active in online learning technologies will face various new hurdles.
On one hand, the cyber threat for online learning enterprises may not seem as big as a potential threat to sectors like banking. However, we need to keep in mind that many hackers seek personal data for various purposes that could also be a threat to financial institutions, government agencies, and even utility companies which they are connected with, online.
Also Read : IoT Attacks – 5 Ways Enterprises Can Prevent Them
Recently, a new wave of ransomware named, CovidLock hit android users across the globe. The ransomware targeted applications with pretense as an authority offering information about coronavirus.
It is important for enterprises in the education technologies sector to take a proactive measure of cybersecurity, and design effective cyber-defense strategies to secure the future for online learning. While online learning as a business paradigm is here to stay, loss of data cannot be a regular outcome of the new methods of learning. The world needs to learn to live with new threats- innovate or lose.
For more such updates follow us on Google News ITsecuritywire News. Please subscribe to our Newsletter for more updates.
