Higher education currently has the slowest recovery time of any sector, with 40 percent of institutions taking over one month to recover from a ransomware attack. Security retainers, such as those offered by CDW, can help with this, connecting IT departments with relevant engineers and other security professionals who can help them get back online. Regardless of who they engage with, IT departments need dedicated partners in place in the event of a cyberattack. They also need to ensure that the security stack is in compliance with university and state standards.
The cost of not having a good incident response plan will almost certainly be higher than the cost of ensuring you have that remediation plan in place. And this cost won’t just be financial; there will also be a reputational component. In this way, having a remediation plan is equally as important as having an initial security plan in place.
Stay Informed About Emerging Threats and Solutions
The cybersecurity landscape is constantly evolving, and dozens of new solutions become available each day. As such, it can be beneficial to have different firms perform audits of your cybersecurity plans on a regular basis.
RELATED: A sound cyber resilience strategy can ensure operational continuity.
Different people and organizations will read things differently based on their respective knowledge bases. So, if you want to be exposed to the most information about your vulnerabilities and how to best address them, it’s a good practice to get multiple sets of eyes on your strategy. Bringing in partners such as CDW to track emerging threats and solutions and advise on best-in-class solutions can help make sure that your most valuable asset — your data — is secure.
This article is part of EdTech: Focus on Higher Education’s UniversITy blog series.