Students as Network Vulnerabilities
A Student’s Human Error (or other personnel Like Employees or Staff) as a Vulnerability
Human error accounts for a large percentage of assets being adversely affected by exploits through vulnerabilities. According to some cybersecurity analyst, the human mind contains more vulnerabilities than networks and systems. Students and employees may have the direct impact of an entities ability to ensure confidentiality, integrity and availability. Sometimes this harm occurs deliberately from internal threats who may be disgruntled, seek to steal an organization’s critical information, or attempt to take down networks and systems by deploying viruses through email phishing and other damaging techniques. Students can be the users that are compromised, or they can be responsible for exploiting vulnerabilities both by mistake or deliberately.
Students Should Refrain from Disclosing Human Intelligence
Many students are excited when they gain access to academic data such as a progress report or report card. The information on these documents are personal and should only be read by the student and/or his or her family members. Speaking openly about grades and actions taken by professors and staff can potentially be used to gather human intelligence by prospective hackers. There is very little a hacker can do with a student’s grades on a report card; however, if the student discloses personal information like home addresses, social security numbers and other personal data that could be enough for a hacker to conduct identity theft or try to gain access to an academic portal or financial institution if they are able to get the student to divulge their authentication information. Students sometimes make mistakes like not signing out of a computer at a library or public place where hackers could quickly steal their information and potentially conduct espionage on the networks.
As Individuals, Students May Become a Threat
Students, especially those in a college or university setting, are often prompted to use specific anti-virus software and follow recommended technology policies in order to prevent hackers from gaining unauthorized access to their academic and personal data. Protecting this critical information is an ongoing process for students at every academic level. However, sometimes the student can adversely affect school networks, including other student’s ability to connect to the internet by becoming one of the types of attackers. These individuals may join a hacking group, organized crime or terrorist organization. Students that are hackers can gain a lot of critical academic information from their college or university or implement cybersecurity techniques to take down internet access and servers like Robert Morris Jr. and Kevin Mitnick. Students can be the users affected by these techniques, or cause threat agents to occur.