University Information Technology Services for Cybersecurity Awareness and Protection

Abstract

Information technology (IT), including computers and computer networking, has provided major benefits to modern education and research activities in universities. However due to security vulnerabilities, campus computers and networks are under severe threat of cyber attacks, which undermine the effectiveness of IT practice on campus. While reactive anomaly detection and recovery capabilities are effective as countermeasures when encountering cyberspace attacks, precautionary cybersecurity awareness and protections are more promising in surviving the dynamic, heterogeneously evolving future cybersecurity threats. This paper overviews the significant cybersecurity threats in modern universities, and surveys and categorizes what kind of services the campus IT departments are obligated to provide for user awareness and resilience on cyber attacks. While we review the security aspects of current IT services in Chinese universities and identify those significant parts missing, suggestions are made to migrate the gap between the current sole security detection and reaction, and the necessary security awareness plus readiness.