Remember when your biggest security concern was someone sneaking a peek at your exam? When you had to remember a total of three passwords — and one of them was your bike lock combination? Back then, "two-factor authentication" meant the library clerk checking your ID photo and your actual face.
Today, higher education IT leaders are up against ransomware attacks that can shut down entire institutions. And that laminated student ID has evolved into a complex digital identity sprawling across hundreds of cloud applications.
The trust crisis is personal
When an institution announces a breach, the headline numbers hide the human impact: a student worried about financial aid data, a researcher unsure whether years of work are at risk, parents questioning if the school they trusted can protect their child. Public confidence in higher education has ticked up for the first time in a decade, according to Gallup’s 2025 survey, but remains below majority levels.
Meanwhile, educational services experienced over 1,000 security incidents last year, and 79% resulted in confirmed data disclosure. Trust is on the line, which is why EDUCAUSE's 2025 Priority #4, "A Matter of Trust," is existential.
The dissolved perimeter dilemma
Gone are the days when you could secure your campus by controlling the network perimeter. Today's reality looks drastically different. The network edge is everywhere: faculty collaborating from a café in Prague, students learning from home, staff sharing data across institutions. The cloud didn’t just change where data lives; it erased the old perimeter.
U.S. organizations now connect an average of 114 applications, multiplying the attack surface. In Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Incident Report, 88% of breaches in the basic web application attack pattern involved stolen credentials. And the mean ransomware recovery cost for higher education rose from $1.06 million in 2023 to $4.02 million in 2024.
Building trust through identity-first security
How do you secure without creating barriers? EDUCAUSE Priority #10, "Building Bridges, Not Walls," captures this essential tension: Expand digital access while safeguarding privacy. Modern identity and access management helps deliver both, removing friction for legitimate users while raising assurance when risk rises. Leading institutions deploy three key strategies:
Zero Trust made practical. Don’t assume inside equals safe. Verify continuously with context (device posture, location, behavior). Strong factors (phishing‑resistant, biometrics) and passwordless options reduce risk and student frustration. Okta enables this adaptive approach across your digital ecosystem.
Visible governance. Automated access reviews, just‑in‑time provisioning, and clear audit trails make privacy and security seen, which builds stakeholder confidence.
Protected privileges. Granular, time‑bound access for admins and sensitive systems prevents over‑privilege while enabling research and cross‑institution collaboration. Security becomes the bridge, not the barrier.
If your teams want hands‑on practice with passwordless, strong multi-factor authentication and access governance before rolling out changes campus‑wide, point them to Okta Learning, our self‑guided learning experience
From bike locks to biometrics
In the near future, students may never need to create a password — authenticating seamlessly through passkeys and device trust, AI‑assisted defenses will cut off attacks before they spread, and federated identity will let institutions collaborate without exposing sensitive data. But trust will remain personal: Today’s freshman becomes tomorrow’s donor, faculty leader, and parent. Protect their identity now, and invest in every future role they’ll play.
Three passwords and a bike lock worked back then. A hundred‑app campus needs a modern identity platform now. Join Okta at EDUCAUSE 2025, October 27–30, in Nashville, TN, to continue the conversation and schedule a meeting
