Cyber security and universities: managing the risk (2023 update)

Last updated on Tuesday 18 Feb 2025 at 8:47pm

The purpose of this report is to demonstrate to Vice-Chancellors, and other board-level university leaders, the strategic significance of cyber security.

Drafted jointly by sector experts from UUK, Jisc and the NCSC, with support from UCISA, this guidance outlines the main threats facing the sector and the impact of recent attacks against individual organisations across the UK research and education sector, and sets out leaders’ responsibilities to understand and mitigate these risks. It provides action points to consider and more detailed advice around our suggested approach to cyber security.

Read the full report

This guidance complements Universities UK’s ‘Managing risks in Internationalisation: Security related issues’, which sets out measures universities should take to guard against hostile interference and promote academic freedom, and the NCSC Board Toolkit which facilitates discussions between boards and their technical experts.

This report recommends the following actions to be taken by senior leaders in institutions:

Review institutional security posture using the four-pillar security posture model described in the introduction
Business continuity: make sure everyone in your organisation knows what to do in the event of a serious security incident. Regularly rehearse scenarios with a view to continual improvement, remembering to reflect changes in the threat landscape and technology.
Share and collaborate: Defending as one, higher education institutions should work together to share threat intelligence and expertise, which has a positive impact on the sector’s preparedness and capability to respond, both tactically and strategically

Read the full report PDF here.

Cyber security and universities: managing the risk (2023 update)

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