Higher Ed Institutions Operate as Small Cities
Asked how such deployment and management questions are taking shape at Rutgers University–Newark, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Technology, Innovation and Learning Environments Kevin Dowlin says, “That is a rabbit hole.”
Joanna Grama, senior principal and partner at Vantage Technology Consulting Group, attorney, and former director of EDUCAUSE’s cybersecurity and IT governance, risk and compliance programs, points to structural complexity as the root cause.
“Higher education institutions are large, decentralized and in many ways resemble small cities,” she says. “It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that responsibility for IT systems, IT security and operational technology security has become fragmented across the sector.”
And just as college and university campuses mimic cities in the broader world, cities, state and local governments, and federal agencies are entrenched in their own conversations and debates around public safety technology; implications for privacy and data protections; and responsibility for purchasing, maintenance and more.
In February, The George Washington University’s College of Professional Studies joined The Cyber Guild to host the annual Cybersecurity, Stronger Together Conference. This year’s theme, Converging Threats and Defenses, brought together industry leaders from cybersecurity, operational technology, kinetic security and policy management to explore the “evolving intersection of digital and physical threats,” according to the event’s website.
DISCOVER: Centralizing cybersecurity is key to a strong defense.
“The digital world impacts the physical world, and we’re living in an era where that integration between IT and OT is real, and every single person carries a device in their pocket that can impact the way that the physical world operates,” Cory Simpson, CEO of the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology, shared in a video produced by the conference.
“When you tackle topics identifying vulnerabilities from stadium climate controls and transportation grids to broadcast infrastructure, and brainstorm methodologies for modeling cascading failures, mapping those vulnerabilities at the convergence of digital and kinetic systems, and translating complex threat data into actionable intelligence for executive decision-makers, you need to establish a shared risk language between cybersecurity, physical security and political stakeholders to ensure defense strategies are fully integrated, not siloed,” Liesl Riddle, dean of GW’s College of Professional Studies, noted in her opening conference address.
What’s at Stake in Higher Education?
Historically, facilities or campus police handled physical security. Today, access control, cameras and visitor management platforms run on institutional networks, store footage in the cloud, require regular firmware updates and must comply with cybersecurity standards. That convergence finds resource-strapped higher ed IT teams, particularly on smaller campuses, increasingly responsible for protecting both digital and physical assets. The convergence has also prompted operational challenges at many colleges and universities — of all sizes — to mount.
