November, Security Month at the URJC

Alberto Gomez Rodriguez

Cybersecurity problems related to the digitization of society have increased in recent times, and even more so with the COVID-19 pandemic. The Internet is omnipresent in social life and in the economy, but it has shown itself to be very vulnerable when it comes to stopping this type of attack.

It is estimated that educational institutions are receiving an average of 20 million attempted break-ins per day. For this reason, the Rey Juan Carlos University has declared the month of November as the Month of Safety at the University.

Universities are a clear object of desire for criminals on the Internet. This is due to several reasons such as "the university culture tries to be open and transparent, making important efforts so that all members of the university community have easy and effective access", declares José Antonio Rubio, Head of Information Security at the URJC. Also "the field of investigation is an incentive for cybercriminals due to the importance of the data processed".

Attackers take advantage of vulnerabilities in educational institutions in different ways. spear phishing, targeted phishing attacks; Ransomware, threats to steal or publish data from these centers; or directly the loss or theft of computer equipment, since these contain a great deal of information.

This insecurity presents an important challenge for centers such as the Rey Juan Carlos University, which have to protect themselves. That is why the university has created this month to make the University Community aware of how important it would be to be able to stop this type of cyberattack.

And not only does this initiative exist at the URJC, the Degree in Cybersecurity Engineering and Master in Cybersecurity and Privacy that offers students the fundamental concepts and tools of this field and the systems and infrastructures and you will acquire the essential knowledge to stop cybercriminals.