Technology
Cybersecurity Governance for Distributed Online Campuses
We map the threat surface of cloud-native universities and propose a layered governance model balancing student privacy, accreditation requirements, and operational resilience. The model is evaluated against common attack scenarios in distributed learning environments.
A university with no physical campus concentrates its risk in identity, data, and availability. We characterize this threat surface and propose governance controls proportionate to institutional scale.
Threat model #
We enumerate adversaries and assets — student records, assessment integrity, credential issuance — and rank scenarios by impact and likelihood.
A layered control framework #
- Identity-first access control with phishing-resistant authentication.
- Data minimization and regional data residency for privacy compliance.
- Resilience through stateless services and tested recovery.
Keywords
References
- NIST (2018). Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, v1.1.
- Shostack, A. (2014). Threat Modeling: Designing for Security. Wiley.
- ENISA (2022). Threat Landscape for the Education Sector.