Stronger Higher Education Cybersecurity Starts with Enhanced Talent
A better-trained, highly satisfied staff is essential for meeting today’s cybersecurity challenges in higher education.
People Are the Most Important Security Technology
Colleges and universities are prime targets for cybercrime, and attacks get more sophisticated every year. Keeping teams trained — and making sure they’re sufficiently staffed — enhances an organization’s security posture and delivers the most reliable protection.
Here’s a closer look at the value of the human element in higher education cybersecurity.
Higher Education Is a High-Stakes Cybercrime Target
As hybrid learning environments, distributed research partnerships and cloud-based platforms expand attack surfaces, cybersecurity becomes more challenging for higher education institutions. Yet the cost and consequences of a breach make security a top priority — not just to protect sensitive data, but to ensure institutional continuity, student safety and academic integrity.
In the education sector, the average 2024 data breach cost $3.5 million1
The average daily cost of downtime due to a ransomware attack on an educational institution is $500,0002
91% of UK higher education institutions experienced a cyberattack in the past year3
Stress May Hurt Security Teams’ Effectiveness
Security teams at higher education institutions face unique challenges, including decentralized IT environments, limited staffing and varied user privileges across faculty, staff and students. When these challenges cause stress to mount, effectiveness can suffer — but consistent training can help.
of IT and security professionals rate their overall stress level as very or somewhat stressful4
of cybersecurity professionals at higher education institutions report excessive workloads5
of IT and security professionals say certification and education opportunities are effective for retaining staff4
The Value of Continuous Learning
Continuous learning opportunities empower IT security teams with a stronger sense of teamwork and confidence in managing evolving threats. An institution’s commitment to ongoing training can also increase job satisfaction, reduce burnout and raise retention — and well-trained teams can better anticipate, detect and respond to security incidents.
Most commonly outsourced areas in cybersecurity4
1
Security training (36%)
2
Managed security services (27%)
3
Third-party vendor risk management (26%)
CDW Helps Close the Security Talent Gap
In addition to providing cybersecurity solutions that help secure IT environments at colleges and universities worldwide, CDW helps close the talent gap in cybersecurity with managed services, security operations centers (SOCs) and staff training tailored for academic institutions.
“Nobody builds their own HVAC system and then sends somebody up to recharge the coolant. Take a look at what you can outsource within the security model to keep your people fresh and doing relevant work for your business.”
Buck Bell, Global Security Strategy Office, CDW
Your people are just as important to campus-wide IT security as your technology. Connect with the experts at CDW to elevate both.
Sources:
1 IBM, Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024
2 Comparitech, “On average, US schools and colleges lose $500K per day to downtime from ransomware attacks,” August 2024
3 GOV.UK, “Cyber security breaches survey 2025: Education institution findings,” June 2025
4 CDW, “Cybersecurity Issues Are More Alike Than Different Across Industries,” 2024
5 EDUCAUSE, “Cybersecurity and Privacy Workforce in Higher Education,” 2025