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Top Cybersecurity Tools for Higher Education: Protecting Institutions

by Rebecca Kappel on June 5, 2025

Universities have always been places of learning and innovation. Yet, in today’s digital world, they’re also prime targets for cybercriminals. From online learning platforms to student records, from research databases to financial systems, the amount of sensitive data that higher education institutions store has grown exponentially—and so have the risks.

Between AI-fueled disruption, rising financial strain, and surging ransomware threats, higher education institutions are facing a radically new cyber risk landscape. Deloitte’s 2025 Higher Education Trends highlights that today’s university security leaders must do more than secure data—they must adapt to seismic shifts in risk, trust, and technology.

That means cybersecurity can’t be treated as a niche IT issue anymore. It’s now a strategic priority tied to institutional survival, student success, and long-term resilience.

Top Cybersecurity Tools for Higher Education: Protecting Institutions

Financial Strains Undermine Security Readiness

Fitch Ratings highlights different points in their 2025 report. They found that the financial outlook for U.S. public finance higher education is deteriorating due to several macroeconomic pressures. These pressures include:

High Labor Costs: Rising wages and labor shortages are diverting valuable resources away from essential cybersecurity initiatives.
Elevated Interest Rates: Increased borrowing costs are limiting the funds available for upgrading cybersecurity infrastructure and technology.
Sluggish Enrollment Recovery: Slower-than-expected recovery in enrollment leads to decreased tuition revenue, leaving institutions with fewer financial resources to invest in cybersecurity.

These issues are straining universities’ financial flexibility. This financial strain is not only affecting day-to-day operations but is also complicating universities’ ability to manage cyber risks effectively.

But there’s even more to the risk scene in the higher education sector. Growing competition between larger, more selective institutions and smaller, tuition-dependent schools is intensifying this challenge. Smaller universities, which typically operate on tighter budgets, may struggle to allocate adequate resources for robust cybersecurity measures.

How can universities leverage cybersecurity solutions for higher education to ensure both security and financial sustainability? Let’s break down the key issues and explore how universities can build a stronger, more resilient cybersecurity culture.

In this blog, we’ll explore the top cybersecurity tools that universities can implement to protect sensitive data, ensure regulatory compliance, and strengthen their overall cybersecurity posture.

1. Centraleyes: A Holistic Path to Risk Management in Higher Ed

Managing cybersecurity risk across a university is no small feat. Universities typically operate with decentralized IT systems that span multiple campuses, departments, and external vendors. As digital transformation accelerates, the volume and complexity of risks increase, making it difficult for IT teams to stay ahead of potential threats.

As a Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) platform, Centraleyes offers a unified approach to managing cybersecurity risk at scale, integrating tools for risk assessments, compliance tracking, and vendor evaluations.

HECVAT Integration: Streamlined Vendor Risk Management for the Entire Institution

To further support universities in managing vendor risk, Centraleyes has integrated HECVAT 4.0 (Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Toolkit), a critical tool for evaluating third-party vendors’ cybersecurity posture. With the growing reliance on cloud services, AI technologies, and external vendors, universities must ensure that their partners meet the highest standards of data protection and privacy compliance.

The updated HECVAT 4.0 offers key features that make vendor risk management more efficient and comprehensive, including:

Deeper Privacy Controls: HECVAT 4.0 ensures vendors comply with privacy standards, helping universities protect sensitive student, staff, and research data.
AI-Specific Questions: As AI becomes more embedded in university systems, the toolkit includes important questions about how vendors manage and secure AI technologies.
Unified Structure: HECVAT 4.0 consolidates multiple forms into a single, streamlined structure, making it easier for teams to assess vendor risk and collaborate across departments.

By integrating HECVAT 4.0 into the Centraleyes platform, universities can:

Launch Assessments Automatically: Simplify the process of initiating vendor assessments, ensuring compliance with cybersecurity standards from day one.

Auto-Score Responses and Prioritize Risk: Automatically score vendor responses, highlighting areas that need attention, so universities can take action on high-risk areas in real time.

Collaborative Risk Management: Centraleyes fosters collaboration across teams—IT, legal, compliance, and privacy departments—by routing assessments to the right stakeholders for review, making the process more efficient and reducing silos.

2. SpyCloud: Preventing Account Takeovers Before They Happen

Account takeovers are a critical cybersecurity threat in higher education. With students and staff often using the same login credentials across multiple platforms, cybercriminals have numerous entry points into university systems. When these accounts are compromised, the damage can range from identity theft to financial fraud.

SpyCloud offers a solution that proactively monitors compromised credentials across the dark web. By identifying exposed data early, universities can lock down accounts before cybercriminals exploit them.

Key Features:

Credential Monitoring: SpyCloud scans the dark web for stolen credentials and alerts universities in real-time.
Exposure Remediation: The platform gives universities the tools to manage exposed data and prevent breaches before they occur.
Real-Time Alerts: Universities can take immediate action to secure accounts as soon as they detect compromised data.

3. Cloud Range: Simulated Cyberattack Training for Real-World Scenarios

While implementing the best cybersecurity tools is essential, having well-trained staff who can respond to cyber threats in real-time is equally important. Traditional cybersecurity training often lacks the real-world context needed to prepare university personnel for actual cyber attacks.

Cloud Range takes cybersecurity training to the next level by offering simulated cyberattacks, allowing faculty, staff, and IT teams to practice their responses in a realistic, safe environment.

Key Features:

Simulated Cyberattacks: Cloud Range replicates common attack scenarios like ransomware, phishing, and data breaches.
Interactive Training: Over 1,500 hands-on training labs ensure that staff at all levels of expertise can engage with real-world cybersecurity threats.
Real-Time Preparedness: These exercises build muscle memory, allowing universities to respond swiftly and confidently when an attack occurs.

Simulated cyberattack training ensures that universities are prepared to defend against evolving threats—not just react to them when it’s too late.

4. EDUCAUSE Cybersecurity Frameworks: Building a Long-Term Strategy

As cybersecurity threats grow more complex and sophisticated, universities need a long-term strategy to manage risk. The EDUCAUSE cybersecurity frameworks provide a comprehensive, structured approach for universities to assess their current cybersecurity maturity, identify gaps, and implement improvements over time.

Key Features:

Cybersecurity Maturity Assessments: EDUCAUSE helps universities understand where they stand in terms of cybersecurity preparedness and what steps are needed to improve.

Security Best Practices: These frameworks provide universities with guidelines for incident response, data governance, and compliance, ensuring they build a resilient cybersecurity strategy.

Tailored Roadmaps: EDUCAUSE’s frameworks allow institutions to develop a roadmap that is tailored to their unique needs, addressing both current and future risks.

5. Cloud Scorecard by Internet2: Evaluating Cloud Vendors for Security and Compliance

As universities increasingly move to cloud-based services, choosing the right vendor is critical to safeguarding sensitive data. The Cloud Scorecard by Internet2 provides a tool for universities to assess cloud vendors based on security, compliance, and AI readiness, ensuring that these partners meet the necessary cybersecurity standards.

Key Features:

Vendor Comparisons: The Cloud Scorecard offers side-by-side comparisons of cloud vendors, helping universities evaluate their security and compliance features.

AI-Centric Security: With the growing use of AI, the Cloud Scorecard includes detailed questions about how vendors handle AI security, ensuring institutions are partnering with secure, compliant vendors.

Continuous Updates: Cloud services are constantly evolving. The Cloud Scorecard is updated regularly, helping universities stay informed about the latest vendor offerings.

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Cybersecurity Awareness Gap in Higher Education: A Silent Threat

Despite the increasing number of cyberattacks and the obvious risks, many in the higher education sector are still unaware of the full scale of the threats they face. Higher education information security often gets treated as a technical issue, something handled by IT departments, rather than a shared responsibility for everyone on campus. This mindset leaves faculty, staff, and students vulnerable.

Lack of Awareness Among Faculty and Staff: Many employees at universities simply don’t realize how susceptible they are to cyberattacks. A study at a U.S. university revealed that while some employees understood basic cybersecurity principles, many were unaware of simple security practices like using strong, unique passwords or recognizing phishing attempts

Cybersecurity Awareness Among Students: Students, too, are often undereducated on the basics of cybersecurity. Universities have been slow to implement cybersecurity training for the general student body, leaving them unprepared for risks like identity theft, social engineering, and online fraud. This gap in awareness creates huge vulnerabilities.

The Impact of Staffing Shortages: According to the EDUCAUSE 2023 report, a shortage of cybersecurity staff is a significant barrier to strengthening security practices at many institutions. This lack of dedicated personnel often results in insufficient training and awareness programs for the broader university community

Awareness gaps put universities at greater risk, as human error is the leading cause of higher education cyber attacks. Phishing emails, weak passwords, and unintentional sharing of sensitive data can all be prevented with proper education.

The Centraleyes Advantage: Bridging the Gap

At Centraleyes, we understand the unique needs of higher education institutions when it comes to cybersecurity. Our platform offers a unified, AI-powered approach to risk management, allowing universities to address their most pressing cybersecurity challenges with ease and efficiency.

By automating risk assessments, ensuring compliance, and streamlining vendor evaluations, institutions can seamlessly integrate cybersecurity for higher education into their daily operations, from managing vendor risks with tools like HECVAT 4.0 to internal risk and compliance management.

With Centraleyes, universities can integrate risk management into their core operations, reduce the likelihood of human error, and build a sustainable cybersecurity strategy that safeguards the institution’s future.

As the higher education sector continues to face increasing cyber threats, Centraleyes enables universities to maintain resilience and protect their most valuable assets and their future.

We’re proud to partner with institutions that are taking the lead in cybersecurity, and together, we are making strides in protecting the next generation of students, researchers, and educators.