Maarten Grooff
Digital security at colleges and universities is not good enough. The Education Inspectorate concluded this in an investigation. It is expected that this also applies to secondary vocational education, secondary schools and primary schools. According to the inspectorate, security often focuses solely on the protection of privacy data. Little attention is paid to the overall security of information at educational institutions. Cyber security is not yet the highest priority.
In December 2019, there was a ransomware attack on Maastricht University. All internal websites and the e-mail system were down. The Education Inspectorate concluded that the university had not taken sufficient measures to prevent the attack. As a result, the university was hit harder than necessary. The handling of the attack went well according to the inspection. With the handling, Maastricht University warned other institutions about the ransomware attacks. During a ransomware attack, criminals gain access to a system via, for example, a phishing email and this data is held hostage.
Currently, the educational institutions themselves are responsible for cyber security. But according to the inspectorate, the government must also do its part. The Cyber Security Center could better share information with universities and colleges. This is not happening enough at the moment. The government could also help institutions get security in order. Cyber security must become an integral part of the institutions' risk management. They must always continue to monitor and improve this.
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