Infographic: Cybersecurity Beliefs of Higher Education Students and IT Staff

College and university IT pros say their number one cybersecurity challenge is educating users on security policies and procedures. But what do college students think of their schools’ security measures? Are IT pros and students on the same page? CDW-G surveyed 250 higher education IT professionals and 300 students to find out.

Released at EDUCAUSE, CDW-G’s “Securing Higher Education – It Takes Two” infographic examines both IT teams’ and students’ perspectives on cybersecurity, including what students expect from their schools, what IT pros aim to deliver and gaps in communication. AS CDW-G puts it in their inforgraphic:

With their open environments and rich stores of personally identifiable information, colleges and universities are prime targets for cyberattacks. Higher education IT pros work tirelessly to protect university networks and data, meet compliance requirements and educate end users, but are students equally concerned about cybersecurity and aware of their institutions’ efforts?

CDW-G also outlines the structure and parameters of the survey, “In August 2017, CDW-G surveyed 250 IT professionals and 300 college students about how they’re approaching cybersecurity on college campuses. The margin of error is ±5.62% for the 250 IT professionals and ±6.16% for the 300 college students. The confidence level for both groups is 95%.”

The survey brings some real insight into how students at higher education organizations view cybersecurity. They believe that it is very important for their higher education institution to have the ability to protect university and student data. However, it is clear that there is a major disconnect between IT pros and students when it comes to cyberattacks. Communication and education are two of the biggest problems when it comes to cybersecurity for students at higher education institutions.

Check out the infographic below to learn more about what the study has revealed.