Swivel Secure has been protecting some of the world’s leading educational institutions against cyber-attacks for years.
However, things are getting even more complicated.
According to Carl Singler, Swivel Secure’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), hackers have broadened their attack remit.
“Previously, we roughly divided attacks into two categories, where the first category was clearly for financial gain – the so-called ransomware attacks. These attacks are generally executed by well-organised and ‘professional’ syndicates.
“In the second category, we would find solo attacks – mostly to gain access to restricted resources, usually by individuals, using various open-source and freely available tools. Often these attacks would be to gain bragging rights.”
Carl said a clear third category is emerging, which is very concerning.
“We’re seeing an increasing number of attack vectors aimed at an educational institution’s research.”
There are apparent benefits to stealing intellectual property and cutting-edge research from academic universities.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has warned that universities were a key target for state-sponsored attackers.
If the attacks are state-sponsored, a country could gain insight from the research from a reputable academic institution. Stealing intellectual property from leading countries has long been a standard tactic by some countries to boost their research, solve roadblocks, and leapfrog other countries.
Carl said security professionals at Universities have a mammoth task to protect their institutions.
“The workforce is huge and diverse. Students bring their own devices and are not necessarily aware of the need for great security hygiene. In a business, laptops are issued, and applications and cellphones can be centrally controlled. With students, this is far less likely.”
Swivel Secure’s approach is to create a cost-effective, fit-for-purpose first line of defence against these attacks on academic institutions.
“Our first line of defence approach is multi-faceted.
“To personalise our offering to an institution, we combine bespoke training, professional services, patented technology and 24/7 support from our multi-lingual Security Operations Centre. Our Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) platform AuthControl Sentry® underpins our customised solution,” said Carl.
In our next article, we will make the case that Swivel Secure is the most cost-effective enterprise-grade platform for educational institutions to secure their infrastructure, protect against ransomware attacks and protect their intellectual property and personal information.
You can read more about our offering for educational institutions here.
Contact the author of this article, Carl Singler, here.
Contact UK and Ireland’s Head of Channel, Samia Qureshi, here if you have a sales enquiry.
Swivel Secure has protected identities, infrastructure and devices for over two decades in more than 48 countries. Its award-winning, intelligent multi-factor authentication platform AuthControlSentry® has patented technology at its core.
We integrate with everything, and we protect everybody.
