Dive Brief:
- Penn State’s new Office of Information Security will be led by a chief information security officer and will be tasked with protecting the university from the millions of cyberattacks it fields on an average day.
- Andrew Sears, dean of the College of Information Sciences and Technology, will serve as the interim CISO while the university engages in a national search to fill the position permanently.
- Provost Nicholas P. Jones said the new office reflects the reality that information security is vital to the entire organization and not just a problem for IT.
Dive Insight:
Higher education institutions are particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks because they are such sweet targets. They have wide-ranging types of of data about individuals and house it in an environment that is protected, but still designed to encourage the free flow of information. Historically, they have also spent less than major corporations on data security. Separating out information security from IT has become a best practice for higher education. Cyberinsurance plans are another strategy for protecting against the danger of an attack’s success.