Joining Forces to Combat Cyberattacks: Building a United Front for Digital Security

Ransomware, DDoS, data theft, data loss: in recent years, universities have increasingly been targeted by cybercriminals. The University of Zurich has not been spared and was threatened by a cyberattack earlier this year. For hackers, universities are attractive for several reasons. For one thing, their computers and servers contain vast amounts of valuable data belonging to students, teachers, employees and researchers. For another, they have complex computer and network systems which are difficult to monitor as a whole due to their vast scale. In addition, securing these systems must be balanced against the need to maintain an open academic community with active knowledge sharing, to provide user-friendly services for students and university staff, and to ensure the availability of necessary resources.

Following the cyberattack on UZH’s IT systems, the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Oliver Schmid launched a university-wide awareness campaign to encourage UZH members to be alert to cyberspace threats and to inform them of sensible protective measures.