Karen Walsh

As institutions of higher education reel from recent cyberattacks in the United Kingdom, IT departments work tirelessly to secure sensitive student data. Student records offer a wealth of personally identifiable information (PII) from birth dates and social security numbers to bank account numbers and home addresses. In parallel, a study released by EDUCAUSE in July 2020 notes that the CIO’s Commitment on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) reports that 83.1% of respondents strongly agree that “diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace environments foster more effective and creative teams of technology professionals.” Although at first glance, these two issues appear unrelated, bringing diverse voices to the cybersecurity table may provide a way through, rather than around, the current security struggles facing remote learning models in higher education. 

Across industries, organizations seek to embrace Internet of Things (IoT) devices to reduce manual tasks and promote social distancing. However, IoT devices often lack basic security controls which lead to new cybersecurity risks across the IT stack. A comprehensive solution for managing IoT as part of organizations’ growth plans must also incorporate establishing best practices for moving forward securely.