Cybersecurity for Education: Protect data and systems across schools, colleges, and universities
Cybersecurity for education protects the information and systems your academic organisation depends upon, with strategies and checks designed around your unique risk profile.
Schools, colleges and universities need to stay open and connected, while protecting the people, systems, data and research they rely on every day. That creates a very different security challenge from organisations where access can simply be locked down.
You need a more mature approach than baseline security controls.
We help education providers like yours understand where their biggest risks sit, strengthen their defences and prepare for incidents without getting in the way of teaching, research or day-to-day operations.
From testing and assurance through to incident readiness and ongoing cyber security support, our advice is practical, risk-based and built around how your organisation actually works.
Test and strengthen your defences and prepare for incidents with structured, award-winning cybersecurity support.
Award-winning cybersecurity team. Learn more about our achievements in compliance and cybersecurity.
Why managed cybersecurity for Education is essential
While cybersecurity is vital for any organisation processing personal data, the education sector has some unique challenges that require a more disciplined approach.
Records of children, young people, parents, and staff contain highly sensitive information that could be harmful if exposed. Higher education establishments store valuable research as well as personal information.
Operational continuity must be maintained
A large, constantly changing population of students and staff creates a broader, more fluid attack surface than many other businesses.
Because of these opportunities for threat actors, education is now among the most common targets of cyberattacks. As a result, it requires an amplified approach to security.
What are common cybersecurity threats in education?
System intrusion
A system intrusion is any unauthorised attempt to gain access to your organisation’s networks or devices. Attackers may exploit vulnerabilities or weak security controls. They may otherwise steal credentials to enter systems and potentially alter or steal private or sensitive information.
Web application attacks
These attacks target vulnerabilities in your websites (or web-based applications) to gain access to and manipulate data or compromise functionality. This can put student information or staff data that you normally handle through web applications at risk.
Denial-of-Service attacks
Rather than gaining access, these attacks aim to make your system or service unavailable by overwhelming it with malicious traffic or requests. In education, you often rely upon online platforms and digital services, so this can cause significant disruption.
Phishing
A phishing attack is a fraudulent message designed to trick people into revealing sensitive information or clicking malicious links and attachments. Because education organisations often have large, diverse user populations, phishing can give attackers more opportunities to access user accounts and sensitive data.
Understand more about phising awareness
Our cyber security services for education
At Evalian, we help prevent and respond effectively to the attacks listed above through the following cybersecurity support for education.
CISO Services
Access the benefits of cyber security leadership without the cost of employing a full-time CISO. Evalian offers CISO-as-a-Service, helping to assess your organisation’s current security posture, develop a security strategy and improvement roadmap, manage information security risks, support governance and compliance, and oversee assurance activities. Bring your security activities into a coherent security programme rather than treating them as isolated exercises.
Learn more about vCISO services
DPO Services
Meet your data protection responsibilities with dedicated advice from an experienced Data Protection Officer. Evalian provides outsourced DPO to help education organisations interpret data protection requirements, advise on the lawful use of personal data, support DPIAs and DSARs, and provide ongoing guidance when new projects or processing activities raise privacy questions. Get independent oversight and practical support without the need to appoint a DPO internally.
Learn more about DPO as a service
Cyber Incident Response
Rather than relying solely on preventative controls, ensure you’re prepared to respond effectively to a cyber incident. Assess your response capability and run tabletop exercises to identify weaknesses before a real incident exploits them. Develop and trial response plans, and train teams to execute them with confidence, while learning from cyber incidents to strengthen capabilities over time.
Learn more about cyber incident response
Supply Chain Security
Manage the cyber risks introduced by your third-party suppliers, from technology partners to software vendors. Review your current processes to identify gaps, then prioritise third parties according to risk level. Use our SupplyIQ platform to manage your assessments, rating, and remediation activity from a centralised location.
Our services include working with suppliers to address identified weaknesses and, through our managed service, keeping suppliers under ongoing review.
Learn more about Supply Chain Security
Staff Security Awareness and Training
Strengthen the human side of your security strategy alongside technical protections with expert-led cyber awareness training, including social engineering awareness. We can help your team understand security risks and identify potential cyber threats.
Ensure your staff has the knowledge and confidence to follow security practices and protect your education organisation’s systems and information.
Learn more about staff awareness training
Cloud Security
Identify weaknesses and misconfigurations across your cloud environment through independent assessment and review of services, including Microsoft 365, Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud Platform. Check these against relevant industry benchmarks (CIS, cloud provider guidance, etc.), covering areas such as network security controls, encryption, key management, logging, monitoring, and identity and access management.
Learn more about Cloud security for education
Other security essentials for Education
Cybersecurity is the pillar keeping your educational organisation protected from digital threats, but it’s not the only discipline you should focus on for well-rounded risk management.
Data Protection
Understand your obligations and manage personal information appropriately with data protection support that helps you respond to compliance demands.
Evalian offers GDPR advice, Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) and Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) support, staff training, and on-demand help to support privacy requirements across your day-to-day operations.
Receive access to specialist data protection expertise when specific questions or issues arise, without necessarily requiring a full-time resource.
Learn more about outsourced Data Protection Officer services
Penetration Testing
Use CREST-accredited penetration testing to assess your education organisation’s infrastructure, web and mobile applications, cloud environments, and configurations, with red team testing available where appropriate. We test your systems to see how they’d fare against realistic attack techniques, and identify vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.
With our combination of manual testing and automated scanning, you get clear, prioritised findings, practical remediation advice, and a free retest.
Learn more about penetration testing for schools
ISO audits
Gain support in working towards ISO 27001 certification and developing or maintaining an information security management system (ISMS). We assess your existing security arrangements against ISO 27001 requirements and identify non-conformities and opportunities for improvement before external certification audits.
Beyond this, we’ll guide you through the entire ISO 27001 certification process, including preparation for your assessment.
Our expertise is always available to support specific audits or ongoing ISMS requirements.
Learn more about ISO consultancy
Strengthen your security with Cyber Essentials
Although not full cyber security packages by themselves, Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus help protect your organisation from cyber attacks and give your staff, students, and parents confidence.
Evalian provides Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus Certification through a qualified security consultant and a project coordinator at affordable rates to educational organisations of all sizes.
If you’re confident that you meet the requirements, complete our self-assessment questionnaire and schedule your technical assessment. Or, if you need more support first, we can help define your certification scope and advise on improvements.
To learn more, download this comprehensive guide from our SMEs:
How evalian helped St John’s college prepare for cyber threats
The challenge: St John’s College, Oxford, knew they were likely to face a cyber incident at some point, given the risk landscape, but previously relied solely on sessions about hypothetical incidents, without a proper cyber incident response plan. So, they came to Evalian for help.
The scenario: We assessed the college’s existing approach and simulated a ransomware attack and data breach using known tactics and techniques of a real ransomware group. The exercise tested how the college would respond as an attack progressed from phishing and network intrusion through to data exfiltration, encryption, and a threat to publish stolen information.
Evalian also assessed how St John’s would deal with the wider media pressures surrounding a cyber incident, rather than only focusing on the technical attack.
The impact: The exercise helped the college review and improve its processes, creating a much deeper understanding of how to effectively respond to a cyber attack in future.
In particular, senior staff now have increased cyber security awareness, despite previously having little visibility of this type of situation.
Request more information and pricing
Contact our friendly team of experts today to discuss how we can help you address security vulnerabilities and provide cyber security training, or support you with your data protection obligations.
Cyber resilience and security in education FAQs
What should an educational organisation do after a data breach?
If your school or other educational organisation suspects a data breach, you should first contain the incident and establish what information and systems may have been affected. Then, assess the incident against your data protection obligations, including whether you need to report the breach to the ICO, while preserving relevant evidence and documenting your response. Having an incident response plan in place beforehand can help your school staff act quickly and consistently when an incident occurs.
How can education organisations identify their cyber risks?
Your education organisation can identify cyber risks through a combination of risk assessments, technical security testing, configuration reviews, and supplier and third-party assessments. Reviewing how data and systems are accessed can also reveal weaknesses that technical testing alone might miss. A structured assessment lets you base security priorities on your organisation’s actual risk profile rather than applying the same controls everywhere.
What is the role of online safety in a school’s cyber security strategy?
Online safety and cyber security address related but different risks. Online safety focuses largely on protecting children and young people from harmful content, contact, and behaviour online, while cyber security protects systems, accounts and information from threats such as unauthorised access and malware. Your school needs to consider both as part of its wider safety and security responsibilities.
How can educational organisations improve cyber security awareness?
Your organisation can improve cyber security awareness by providing regular, relevant training and ensuring staff understand how their actions can affect the organisation’s security. Training can cover threats such as phishing, password security, and suspicious links. It also teaches you how to report potential incidents. This is particularly important in education, where school staff have different roles and access levels to sensitive information and systems.
