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Unified Cyber Risk Management for Higher Education

Attack Surface Management - Protecting Your Biggest Vulnerability

FortifyData is designed for higher education institutions seeking a comprehensive approach to cybersecurity risk management—delivering the capabilities of multiple tools in one platform, but at a fraction of the cost. It’s a smarter, more efficient way to reduce risks and optimize your security budget.

Educational institutions are increasingly attractive targets for cybercriminals due to their open, ever-expanding, and distributed networks. This accessibility, expanding attack surfaces from reliance on SaaS and disparate College/Departmental needs, coupled with the wealth of personally identifiable information and research data, makes these institutions vulnerable. This vulnerability, combined with the potential impact of a successful cyberattack, including disruptions to operations and the loss of sensitive data, has led to a surge in ransomware attacks targeting educational institutions.

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"FortifyData has been instrumental in transforming our security from reactive to proactive. The ability to move the needle and watch the needle actually move is really huge."

Hsiawen Hull, Executive Director of Infrastructure and Information Security, College of the Canyons
Read the Higher Ed Case Study

College and Department Cyber Risk Management in One Platform

FortifyData empowers higher education institutions to:

  • Continuously discover and monitor assets across campuses, colleges, and departments
  • Pinpoint and manage risks at both the University and individual College level
  • Assess and manage third-party vendors that serve the whole institution or specific departments
  • Streamline compliance with frameworks like PCI DSS, GLBA, FERPA, and NIST 800-171 while reducing questionnaire fatigue
  • Gain clear security ratings for the overall university and each college for quick, at-a-glance risk visibility

The result: better visibility, stronger compliance, and more informed decisions to protect your institution’s reputation and resources.


Also Read: Understanding GLBA for Colleges and Universities

Higher Education Cyber Risk Management by Colleges and Departments - FortifyData
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Integrated Threat Intelligence Informs Your Risk Prioritization

The FortifyData platform integrates threat intelligence feeds that are updated hourly, so you get immediate prioritization of risks according to threats against the industry and technologies. Information such as the threat groups and trending threats like malware variants that are targeting the Higher Education industry.

  • Our assessments identify your external assets susceptible to known threat activities such as malware
  • With FortifyData’s internal agents we can identify if threat signatures are present on systems and in files

The threat intelligence feed data is integrated into our risk prioritization, so as threat intelligence changes – related to susceptible assets you have, increase in activity against the industry and threat signatures – the FortifyData platform analysis takes this into account for the threat likelihood calculation and adjusts your risk prioritization accordingly.

We conduct external assessments of third parties for our TPRM program. You would see susceptible external assets being targeted at third parties in the form of higher likelihood ranking,  and you can share that information with them to improve your supplier ecosystem.

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Why Higher Educational Institutions Choose FortifyData

  • Automated asset discovery and continuous monitoring; always looking for new services/assets, always looking for vulnerabilities / threat exposures
  • Prioritized view of risks with recommended remediation steps for identified vulnerabilities, automated risk based on institutional context of data and assets (“What is my highest risk issue at this moment?”)
  • Unified view with consolidation of multiple security tool findings (external, cloud, internal, third parties, GRC) in one platform.
  • We work with a variety of public and private institutions, HBCUs and smaller vocational colleges 
  • FortifyData provides a holistic view of cyber risk across the University, with the ability to drill down into specific colleges, departments or assets 
  • The accuracy of our risk assessment findings is based on continuous, direct, assessments of the Higher Educational environment’s assets, services and processes that provide an up-to-date view of cyber risk  
  • Monitor cyber risk management progress compared to other higher educational institutions 
Read our Higher Ed Datasheet

Solutions for Higher Education Institutions

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Attack Surface Management and Risk-based Vulnerability Management 

Starting with asset discovery and inventory, our Attack Surface Management (ASM) identifies your educational institution’s IT assets as an attacker will. FortifyData assesses all ports and services of a University’s external and internal attack surface and identifies the same vulnerabilities an attacker would. Our prioritization capabilities help you cut through the noise and get a view of the vulnerabilities with the most impact that actually matters; you can view this across the entire University or by specific College or department. You get a prioritized risk approach that considers context through asset classification, threat likelihood, and business impact, so you know where to focus time and resources on the most critical vulnerabilities to your organization. 

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GLBA, NIST 800-171, and Compliance Framework Support

Higher education institutions face a compliance landscape that has grown significantly more demanding. The FTC Safeguards Rule under GLBA now applies to Title IV institutions, bringing colleges and universities into a compliance framework that requires documented information security programs, ongoing risk assessments, and formal vendor oversight. For many institutions, meeting that standard required formalizing processes that had previously been handled informally or inconsistently.

 

For institutions conducting federally funded research, the compliance obligations extend further. Colleges and universities that process Controlled Unclassified Information on institutional systems are subject to NIST 800-171 requirements, and those operating under Department of Defense contracts face CMMC obligations as well. These requirements apply regardless of institution size and carry direct consequences for continued federal funding eligibility.

FortifyData’s cyber GRC platform supports compliance across these frameworks through continuous risk assessment, compliance framework mapping, and automated monitoring that produces the documented evidence auditors expect to see. Reporting from the platform is designed to communicate clearly to stakeholders at every level, from technical staff managing remediation to leadership and board-level audiences who need an accurate picture of institutional risk posture without requiring security expertise to interpret it.

Higher Education Third-Party Cyber Risk Management - FortifyData

Third-Party Risk Management 

Higher education institutions manage vendor relationships across every college, department, and administrative function, many of which are procured independently without central security review. That decentralization means the institution’s vendor risk exposure is often larger and less visible than it appears. A vendor contracted by one department to support a specific research program may have access to systems and data that carry institution-wide risk.

FortifyData gives institutions continuous active assessment of third-party vendor environments, with findings cross-referenced against vendor questionnaire responses to surface contradictions between what a vendor claims and what the technical assessment finds.

Read: Canvas Ransomware: What it Means For Your Vendor Risk Program. 

Auto-validation eliminates the manual effort of comparing questionnaire responses against independent data, and task management capabilities allow security teams to assign, track, and collaborate on vendor evaluations without losing items between review cycles.

For institutions using HECVAT as their vendor evaluation standard, FortifyData’s AI Auditor ingests and audits HECVAT workbooks, reviewing vendor responses against security requirements and producing a gaps dashboard that gives procurement and security teams a clear view of where a vendor falls short. Combined with continuous active assessment, this means vendor decisions are grounded in both what a vendor reports and what FortifyData independently confirms about their environment.

FortifyData’s Questionnaire Exchange further accelerates the process, giving participants immediate access to shared validated assessments and questionnaires so evaluation cycles move faster without sacrificing rigor.

Frequently Asked Questions About Cybersecurity and Third-Party Risk Management in Higher Education

What is TPRM in higher education and why does it matter?

Third-party risk management in higher education refers to the process of continuously assessing and monitoring the cybersecurity posture of vendors, software providers, and service partners that institutions rely on across campuses, colleges, and departments. Higher education institutions operate complex vendor ecosystems: SaaS platforms, research technology providers, student services software, financial systems, many of which are procured and managed at the department or college level rather than centrally. That decentralization creates blind spots. A vendor serving one college may have access to sensitive student data or research systems without ever going through a formal institutional security review. FortifyData addresses this by conducting continuous active assessments of third-party vendor environments, auto-validating questionnaire responses against live technical findings, and giving institutions a consolidated view of vendor risk across the entire university, including by individual college or department.

How does GLBA apply to higher education institutions?

The FTC Safeguards Rule under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act now applies to Title IV institutions, colleges and universities that participate in federal student financial aid programs. This brought higher education institutions into a compliance framework previously associated with financial services, requiring documented information security programs, risk assessments, vendor oversight, and ongoing monitoring. For many institutions, this represented a significant operational shift, requiring them to formalize processes that had previously been informal or inconsistent. FortifyData supports GLBA compliance in higher education by providing continuous risk assessments, automated vendor oversight, and the compliance monitoring and reporting capabilities that auditors expect to see documented, not just described.

How does FortifyData help higher education institutions evaluate vendors using HECVAT?

HECVAT, the Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Toolkit, is the standard questionnaire framework used by higher education institutions to evaluate the security posture of technology vendors before procurement and on an ongoing basis. Reviewing HECVAT workbooks manually is time-consuming and requires security expertise that many institutions lack at scale. FortifyData’s AI Auditor can ingest and review HECVAT workbooks, audit responses against security requirements, and produce a gaps dashboard that surfaces where a vendor falls short, without requiring manual line-by-line review. This accelerates vendor evaluation, reduces the burden on security staff, and produces a documented, defensible assessment output that supports both procurement decisions and ongoing vendor risk program requirements.

Which higher education institutions need to comply with NIST 800-171 and CMMC?

Institutions that conduct federally funded research, particularly research involving Controlled Unclassified Information on institutional systems, are subject to NIST 800-171 requirements, and those working with Department of Defense contracts face CMMC compliance obligations as well. This applies to research universities, land-grant institutions, and any college or university operating systems that process, store, or transmit federal research data. Compliance requires documented security controls, continuous monitoring, and the ability to demonstrate that systems handling federal information meet defined standards. FortifyData supports NIST 800-171 compliance through its continuous assessment capabilities, risk prioritization, and compliance framework mapping, giving research institutions the visibility and documentation needed to satisfy federal requirements without adding significant overhead to already-stretched security teams.

How does FortifyData handle the distributed risk environment across colleges and departments?

University systems do not operate as a single monolithic environment. Individual colleges, departments, and research units often manage their own technology procurement, maintain separate network segments, and operate with varying levels of security maturity. This creates a risk management challenge that tools designed for single-entity organizations handle poorly. FortifyData is built to address this structure directly, providing a unified view of cyber risk across the entire university while also enabling drill-down visibility at the individual college, department, or asset level. Security and compliance teams can see the institution’s overall risk posture, identify which colleges or departments are driving the most exposure, and prioritize remediation accordingly without losing the institutional context that makes those decisions defensible.

Why are higher education institutions increasingly targeted by ransomware and cyberattacks?

Higher education institutions combine several factors that make them attractive targets: open and expanding network environments designed for academic access rather than security perimeter control, large volumes of personally identifiable information and financial aid data, valuable research data that may have commercial or geopolitical significance, and technology ecosystems that grow faster than security teams can inventory and monitor. The decentralized procurement of SaaS tools across colleges and departments expands the attack surface continuously. FortifyData addresses this through automated asset discovery and continuous monitoring, identifying new assets and services as they appear, assessing vulnerabilities as an attacker would, and integrating hourly-updated threat intelligence feeds that prioritize risks based on active threat activity targeting the higher education sector specifically.

Related Resources

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GLBA Compliance for Higher Education: Meeting the Safeguards Rule

February 14, 2023
The FTC Safeguards Rule will be applied to Title IV institutions based on an upcoming change to the rule….
Read More