Campus Security Report Card: C for Effort

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Security Research

Campus Security Report Card: C for Effort

10/30/2007

By David Nagel

Only 25 percent rated their campuses as fully or mostly integrated with respect to physical and data security. Fourteen percent reported no integration whatsoever, despite the fact that their campus infrastructures are capable of supporting convergence. Twenty-six percent reported being in the early stages of convergence; and 38 percent said that there was "some" integration between physical and data security solutions on their campuses.

What are the most-used converged security tools?

Network authentication software (83 percent);
Card access systems (65 percent);
Emergency call boxes (58 percent);
CCTV (50 percent);
IP cameras (49 percent);
Electronic key locks (44 percent);
E-mail/text alerts (38 percent);
Sirens (34 percent); and
Loud speakers (19 percent).

The Report Card
The study concluded that higher education is not doing enough in the area of security--that it is not taking advantage of convergence, not seeing any year over year improvement in support from students or faculty, but that it is beginning to see some improvement in support for administration. And so it gives higher ed mostly average (C) marks, with a Santa Claus B in the area of administrative support.

In a final "call to action," the report cited four areas for improvement:

Administrative support for unifying and enforcing security policies;
Convergence;
A "layered" approach to security, including network access, content filtering, end point security, network security, and compliance; and
A building of security awareness among students and faculty.

The study was conducted between May 24 and Aug. 2 in person and online with 151 IT directors and managers in higher education, ranging from community colleges to research universities. Forty-three percent had 5,000 or fewer users on their networks; 57 percent had more than 5,000. The results have a margin of error of ±5.5 percent at a 90 percent confidence level.

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About the author: Dave Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's educational technology online publications and electronic newsletters. He can be reached at dnagel@1105media.com.

Have any additional questions? Want to share your story? Want to pass along a news tip? Contact Dave Nagel, executive editor, at dnagel@1105media.com.