Cyber Incidents in Higher Ed: What to Prioritize in the First 24 Hours

In cybersecurity, timing is everything. When a cyberattack strikes a university, the first 24 hours can mean the difference between rapid containment and prolonged chaos. That urgency is compounded by the complexity of higher education environments—where sprawling networks, decentralized governance, and open access policies intersect.

Universities face a unique paradox. They’re designed for openness and collaboration, yet must now defend against increasingly sophisticated threats. And when something goes wrong, the response isn’t just about containing malware—it’s about coordinating across systems, departments, and compliance frameworks under intense pressure.
At UncommonX, we help institutions prepare for these high-stakes moments through proactive visibility, actionable risk intelligence, and a response-ready platform. In this post, we’ll explore why incident response is uniquely difficult in higher ed, outline what must happen in the first 24 hours, and show how our Relative Risk Rating (R3)—a core component of our Exposure Management platform—supports effective incident response.

Why Incident Response in higher education is so complex

Universities function like interconnected ecosystems. Each school or department typically manages its own infrastructure, tools, and policies, creating a patchwork of operations across the broader campus environment. This decentralization, while necessary for academic and operational autonomy, can make it challenging to coordinate a fast, cohesive cybersecurity response when incidents occur.

Key challenges include:

• Distributed governance: University-wide CISOs may lack operational control over each unit, despite being accountable for overall risk.
• Overlapping compliance mandates: Institutions must juggle FERPA, HIPAA, NIST 800-171, and CUI requirements—each with specific reporting demands.
• Diverse operating models: Universities span academic, research, healthcare, residential, and entertainment functions—each with its own risk profile.
• Dynamic users and endpoints: Students, researchers, and guests connect from anywhere on a wide variety of devices, expanding the attack surface.

This complexity makes every decision in the first day even more critical—and much harder to get right.

The first 24 hours: Coordinating an effective response

The early stages of incident response should not be improvised. What follows isn’t a rigid checklist, but a progression of actions that institutions should take to contain the threat and begin recovery with confidence.

• Establish command and control
  Designate a single decision-maker or team—ideally pre-identified in an IR plan—to coordinate response. This team should be empowered to:
  - Isolate systems
  - Communicate with stakeholders
  - Interface with third-party experts like UncommonX

Clear ownership reduces confusion and accelerates decision-making.

• Contain the threat without erasing evidence
  Avoid powering down systems. Instead:
  - Remove compromised devices from the network
  - Preserve memory and log data
  - Prevent the threat from spreading while maintaining visibility
  
  This approach helps security teams understand the scope and origin of the attack-key to long-term remediation.
• Prioritize assets and triage risk
  At this stage, knowing where to focus is critical. Which systems are most at risk? Which are most important to university operations?
  That’s where UncommonX’s Relative Risk Rating (R3) comes into play.

Why Relative Risk Ratings are critical for Incident Response

Relative Risk Ratings (R3) aren’t just a static score—they’re a dynamic risk model that evaluates assets in real time across five core dimensions:

• Priority – How essential is the asset?
• Vulnerability – Is it exposed to known threats?
• Profile – Is its behavior normal or anomalous?
• Telemetry – Who or what is it communicating with?
• Controls – Are protections in place and functioning?

As part of our Exposure Management platform, R3 gives institutions an at-a-glance view of:

• Which departments or units represent the most immediate risk
• Which specific assets are contributing to risk escalation
• How mitigation actions are improving (or failing to improve) overall posture

Because R3 works across siloed systems, it enables centralized oversight without enforcing centralized infrastructure—ideal for higher ed’s decentralized ecosystem.

Recovery starts with smart remediation

With containment underway and exposure identified, recovery begins. But in higher education, that recovery must be deliberate and defensible:

• Verify backups before initiating restoration to avoid reintroducing compromised data
• Use trusted images and configurations for rebuilds
• Document every step for compliance and audit purposes
• Track progress using R3, showing leadership that risk is being actively reduced

This process not only restores function but builds institutional trust—demonstrating that the university is in control and moving forward.

Resilience begins before the breach

You can’t predict when an attack will strike, but you can prepare. And in higher ed, preparation must account for decentralized operations, complex data environments, and a wide range of user behaviors.

That’s where UncommonX stands apart.

Our Exposure Management platform gives colleges and universities the visibility and intelligence they need to act fast—and act smart—when it matters most. From the first alert to full recovery, we help institutions bring order to complexity and turn incidents into opportunities for resilience.

Want to be ready when it matters most?

UncommonX helps colleges and universities prepare for, detect, and respond to cyber incidents with speed and precision. 

Whether you're actively managing a cybersecurity event or working to strengthen your readiness for the future, our team is here to help. From building a response strategy to gaining real-time visibility with R3, we deliver the tools and expertise higher education institutions need to reduce risk and recover with confidence.

Contact us at hello@uncommonx.com to request an overview of our MDR for Higher Education, powered by the UncommonX Exposure Management platform.