In 2020, dozens of universities in the UK, US, and Canada were left reeling when hackers stole the private details of users, including staff, donors, current students and former students.
The breach occurred when US-based software firm Blackbaud, which provides cloud-based marketing, education administration, and fundraising software, suffered a ransomware attack. Cybercriminals exfiltrated an astronomical amount of data from a long list of Blackbaud clients in the attack. The stolen information included social security numbers, bank details, and user passwords saved in unencrypted data fields.
The scale of the attack, which impacted institutions including Oxford University, the University of London, Boston University, the University of Dallas, and Ambrose University, served as a reminder of the security risks and challenges of cloud computing.
One UK study, conducted in 2020, found that 54% of universities had reported a data breach within the past 12 months. The education sector is by a long way the industry most affected by malware encounters.
Higher education institutions are a target for cybercriminals and cyberextortion. Many conduct world-leading research and possess valuable intellectual property as well as extensive databases of sensitive information and personal credentials.
Last year, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) was forced to suspend new enrolments and leave casual wages unpaid after a suspected phishing attack. Production of student access cards was disrupted, and key services were frozen while IT systems were restored. See: what DIATF means for your business.
Digital identity verification in higher education
Verifiable credentials are a groundbreaking new solution for universities to navigate these problems. ShareRing has developed the world’s most secure and flexible digital identity verification system, which can be tailored to fit many use cases with one technology.
Unique identifiers in a digital identity are linked to cryptographic keys to secure a user’s verifiable credentials, meaning such an ecosystem can be used in place of an ID card on campus. Students can store a QR code as decentralised data on their phones, accessed through an identity management app such as ShareRing. This code provides access to benefits such as library services and student discounts, and allows staff and students secure access to buildings without the need for passcodes or keycards. See: seven things that make self-sovereign identity different.
Such digital credentials can be issued instantly, eliminating the lengthy process of printing and collecting ID cards at the start of term. Due to the secure nature of blockchain, users retain control over their data at all times, eliminating the risk of a cloud-based cyberattack.
As part of a digital identity ecosystem, this credential can be extended to alumni worldwide, keeping former students connected and providing them with a lifetime of access to documents such as certificates and transcripts through their ShareRing Vault, without the need to make time-consuming requests or risk losing paper copies of important documents. See: the three verification levels inside the ShareRing Vault.
When it comes to graduate job applications, students can quickly and easily share their transcripts with potential employers by accessing them in a digital format with their Vault. No risk of losing paper versions and no risk of tampering along the way. eKYC processes, which universities can also use in the ecosystem, allow students to make seamless applications to a school or exchange program without excessive, cumbersome, and repetitive paperwork.
Where we sit.
ShareRing has been building this technology since 2018. The encrypted Vault and self-sovereign ID model we put in the original whitepaper are the same architecture under everything we deploy today.
If you want to discuss privacy KYC at country scale, the door is open at sharering.network/contact.
By ShareRing Team of ShareRing.
#PrivacyKYC #DigitalIdentity #Universities #EduTech #ReusableKYC #Private #Secure #Verified