By Jesten Richardson, The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Competition for students, pressure to reduce expenditures and an increase in cyber security threats are among the issues higher education institutions like Marshall University continue to face.
Michael Johns, a principal at CliftonLarsonAllen, speaking virtually to the Board of Governors’ Finance, Audit and Facilities Planning Committee last week, described the challenges affecting schools nationwide.
Universities are facing a significant increase in costs related to cyber security, Johns explained.
“The bad actors, unfortunately, are getting better and better at what they do,” Johns said. “Just from my local office, we have two higher education clients who unfortunately had successful ransomware attacks, where the bad actors got in, were able to freeze their systems, so it’s out there. You’re probably getting attacked, every day. I know, as a firm, we’re getting attacked every day, so there’s just increasing costs of making sure that those preventative controls against the bad actors are (up to) best practices.”
Jodie Penrod, Marshall’s chief information officer, echoed the concern about cyber security.