Securing Openness: Navigating Cyber Risk in Higher Education

Higher education institutions are built on openness—open access to information, open collaboration across departments and institutions, and open networks for a constantly shifting user base of students, faculty, researchers, and guests. This openness is a core strength. It fuels research, drives innovation, and shapes the academic experience.

But in today’s digital landscape, openness also invites risk.

Colleges and universities now manage some of the most complex and decentralized IT environments in any industry. A single institution may operate dozens of quasi-independent schools, each with its own infrastructure, security tools, and operating model. Add in legacy systems, third-party research platforms, and an evolving student tech footprint, and you’ve got a uniquely challenging cybersecurity puzzle—one that traditional tools and siloed approaches can no longer solve.

This blog explores how high ed institutions can balance that openness with resilience by rethinking how they approach risk. We’ll break down the challenges higher education faces, introduce the concept of Exposure Management, and show how five foundational elements can help institutions secure their environments without sacrificing their mission.

The unique cybersecurity challenges facing higher ed

From highly decentralized IT environments to increasing regulatory pressures and constrained resources, higher ed faces a perfect storm of risk factors that demand a specialized approach to cyber defense, including:

Decentralization without visibility
Most universities function more like loosely connected municipalities than single organizations. Business schools, research centers, housing, athletics, and medical facilities often operate their own IT systems. This decentralized structure limits centralized visibility and makes unified security governance incredibly difficult.

A culture of collaboration
Universities are designed to share—data, research, access. Whether it’s a cross-institutional research initiative or students logging in from personal devices around the world, collaboration is expected. But every open connection adds to the attack surface.

Diverse compliance requirements
Higher education institutions must often comply with multiple regulatory frameworks—FERPA for student data, HIPAA for medical research, and NIST 800-171 for federally funded programs. Each department may be subject to different rules, creating a fragmented compliance landscape.

Resource constraints
Many institutions operate with limited budgets and overextended teams. Attracting and retaining cybersecurity talent can be difficult, especially in competition with the private sector.

Rethinking resilience with Exposure Management

Rather than attempt to centralize every system or standardize every tool, institutions need a way to assess and manage cyber risk across diverse environments. Exposure Management offers a new approach to address this challenge, while also building a resilient institution.

Exposure Management isn’t a single tool—it’s a strategic approach that helps organizations understand where they’re most exposed to cyber risk by continuously evaluating five core elements: priority, vulnerability, profile, telemetry, and controls.

The five building blocks of Exposure Management:

1. Priority – understanding what matters most
   Not all assets carry the same weight. Some are core to research continuity or student safety, while others support non-essential functions. Exposure Management begins by identifying which assets matter most—so security efforts are focused where impact would be greatest.
2. Vulnerability – identifying weaknesses
   Knowing an asset is vulnerable is only the first step. You must understand whether the vulnerability is exploitable and what risk it poses in context. Exposure Management helps teams prioritize vulnerability remediation based on business impact, not just severity scores.
3. Profile – monitoring behavior
   Anomalous behavior can indicate compromise or misconfiguration. Profiling allows higher ed institutions to monitor how assets typically behave—and alert when something changes. For example, if a library kiosk suddenly begins probing internal research systems, that’s a red flag.
4. Telemetry – tracking communication patterns
   Understanding how assets communicate across internal and external systems provides critical context. Has a device connected to a known malicious IP? Is there lateral movement between departments that shouldn’t be connected? Telemetry reveals hidden risk pathways.
5. Controls – ensuring protections are in place
   Even high-risk assets can be safe if appropriate controls—firewalls, access policies, segmentation—are in place and working. Exposure Management evaluates the actual control posture of each asset, providing evidence of enforcement and identifying where gaps remain.

Securing openness without compromise

These five building blocks—when continuously evaluated—help higher ed institutions translate complexity into clarity. Rather than trying to control every variable, Exposure Management gives universities a structured, evidence-based way to assess and reduce risk in environments where autonomy is essential.

Most importantly, it supports the academic mission. Exposure Management doesn’t force centralization; it enables secure decentralization. Each department can operate independently, while leadership maintains visibility, accountability, and confidence that risk is under control.

The values that define higher education—openness, collaboration, exploration—don’t have to come at the expense of cybersecurity. By adopting Exposure Management as a strategic approach, colleges and universities can build resilient digital environments without sacrificing flexibility or the core values of education.

Want to learn more?

UncommonX works with leading institutions to deliver Exposure Management that fits the unique demands of higher education. Our experience with the unique risks that face education help our customers to uncover blind spots, prioritize remediation, and build the visibility needed for long-term cyber resilience. For more information, contact us at hello@uncommonx.com.