Security breaches can cause all kinds of problems for universities. Hackers are on the rise, and they try to get into the university system and steal confidential information about students, parents, staff, and faculty. There is a lot of important information, including names, addresses, billing information, health information, and more. It is important to take steps to prevent and handle security breaches.
Make Sure Employees Use Strong Passwords
One common way that hackers get into confidential information is by guessing passwords. If they are simple combinations of numbers or letters, they are much easier to figure out. Make sure that employees choose passwords with a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. You should also require them to change their password at least once a year.
Train Employees on Safety Practices
It is important to train employees, including faculty and staff, not to click on links in emails or open files that are attachments. It is easy for hackers to mimic what appear to be trusted sites, so everyone needs training on safety procedures and policies. You can even send out fake emails to show employees what they look like. If they learn how to identify potential malicious emails, you will be able to stop breaches before they occur.
Make Sure That You Have Remote Protection
You will have a local firewall, but you will likely have employees accessing your system from home. You should take precautions to make sure that they are protected when they are working from home or on the road. They should be trained not to use public Wi-Fi, and you can create a VPN for your employees to use when they are away from the university.
Create a Data Breach Plan
If you experience a data breach, you should have a response plan in place. You can work with your IT department to make sure that you know how you will handle it. Consider how you will stop the breach, how you will prevent it from going any further, and how you will notify those who are compromised. This is very important because you need to make sure that you handle a breach as quickly and efficiently as possible.