By Ananth Nag, Area Vice President, India, ASEAN & GCR, Zscaler
Picture this: A bustling university campus in the heart of India, where students eagerly engage in academic pursuits, faculty members collaborate on groundbreaking research, and the administrative staff works tirelessly to ensure the smooth functioning of the institution. Now, imagine this vibrant educational ecosystem under siege from an invisible threat – a sophisticated hacker penetrating the very heart of the university’s digital infrastructure.
In this scenario, the hacker not only gains access to research papers and financial records but also jeopardizes the privacy of students and the integrity of the academic process. It’s not just a distant possibility; it’s a real and present danger that the education sector in India faces today. Recent findings from ThreatLabz have unveiled a large-scale phishing campaign using Adversary-in-The-Middle attacks, capable of bypassing conventional multi-factor authentication methods that are specifically targeting the education sector. The report further witnessed a nearly 50% increase in phishing attacks in 2022 compared to 2021, with the education sector emerging as the most targeted industry, experiencing a staggering 576% surge in attacks. Notably, vishing campaigns, which involve voicemail-themed phishing attacks, have evolved from SMS or SMiShing attacks.
Creating fake emails and websites that look authentic to the untrained eyes, some of these cybercriminals are able to navigate networks without even leaving a trace. They adeptly bypass the standard security checks that use passwords or codes. Even in cases of vishing attacks, real voice snippets of executive teams are utilized, leaving voicemails with pre-recorded messages. Another study by ThreatLabz highlights an alarming increase of nearly 1000% in IoT malware incidents in 2023 within the education sector. The same report identified cybercriminals targeting old vulnerabilities existing for over three years, employing botnets to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, disrupting critical services and processes.
Zero Trust to the rescue
To defend against these cyber threats effectively, the education sector must adopt a zero-trust security approach. This approach dictates that no one and nothing is trusted by default, and every entity must be verified before accessing the network or obtaining permission. In the event that a cybercriminal is able to gain access to a user’s credentials or infects a device, this approach ensures they cannot harm the network or compromise data.
Zero Trust security relies on robust security technologies to identify and authenticate users and devices, control and monitor their access to applications and data, and prevent and detect any malicious activity.
This approach offers several benefits, such as:
• It improves the user experience by letting users access applications and data from anywhere, on any device, without compromising security.
• It reduces the cost and complexity of security by getting rid of outdated and inefficient security tools, such as firewalls, VPNs, and network segmentation.
• It enhances the resilience and agility of the network by enabling a cloud-first and hybrid approach that can scale and adapt to changing needs and threats.
By employing device fingerprinting techniques to analyze IoT device activities and features, organizations can effectively control IoT device traffic and mitigate associated security risks.
A comprehensive zero trust security approach checks identity and context, applies strict access controls, and enforces policies before making secure connections between devices and applications across different networks. This methodology strengthens institutions network security, employing an architecture that guarantees identity-driven access and careful risk-based security measures. This protects the transfer of data between IoT devices and corporate networks, securing vital telemetry.
In the current landscape of serious cyber threats, the use of strong zero-trust security measures is essential to fortify critical infrastructures. Zero Trust security is not merely a product or service, but a strategy and a mindset that empowers the education sector to secure its IT environment and provide a safe, productive learning experience.