Executive summary:

It is standard operating procedure: when students, faculty, staff and vendors become affiliated with an educational institution, they are often issued static passwords in order to gain access to the school’s network. Sometimes, however, they are not the only ones to do so. These thousands of static passwords are the weakest links in an education institution’s data security infrastructure, opening up thousands of potential access points through which online fraudsters can infiltrate.

VASCO’s two-factor authentication solution is based on proven one-time password technology that protects user login and ensures only authenticated users can gain access. With VASCO’s proprietary technology, you can address all your current and future authentication needs, whatever they may be. So, when the number of users increases, you need only increase the number of user licenses—no additional servers required.

Goal:

VASCO’s Strong Authentication solutions are designed for colleges, universities and research institutions, and can also be used in primary, secondary and post-secondary schools. Strong authentication offers advanced security for staff members, faculty members, vendors and students in a flexible and cost-effective manner.
You can implement a multi-factor authentication solution on a single back-end platform for any of the following areas:

• ERP systems
• Administrative support and CRM
• Online grading systems
• Educational portals and e-learning systems
• Enrollment management and student services
• Financial reporting, budgeting and planning
• Online billing
• Procurement, supplier and asset management systems
• Remote access to internal networks via SSL-VPN and browser-based applications such as Citrix Web Interface and SharePoint
• Intranets and extranets
• Webmail access
• In-house applications
  

Threats:

Now more than ever, educational institutions are seeing themselves as the target of phishing attacks—especially targeted phishing attacks. According to several sources, phishing targeted at specific groups (for example, university employees or students) can be very effective. Because phishing e-mails give the illusion of coming from a legitimate authority, such as a school president or director of student services, recipients are tricked into disclosing their confidential information, believing it is being given to an authorized source.

In addition to phishing scams, keylogger viruses and simple password theft are also common methods of compromising data security on campus.

Benefits:

Your Challenge: A diverse and often-changing user population
VASCO’s Solution: Our fully-scalable solutions can easily accommodate as few as ten and as many as tens of thousands of users. It can be easily extended to multiple applications and additional users without requiring additional servers.

Your Challenge: Diverse end-user groups with different risk profiles
VASCO’s Solution: Customize the individual security level and authenticator type based on risk, application and ease of use. VASCO offers a complete range of authentication solutions including hardware, software and mobile authentication.

Your Challenge:Budgetary concerns
VASCO’s Solution: VASCO’s unique back-end platform can support thousands of authentication requests per second without any additional hardware. This means you can use it year after year without any further investments, ensuring low total cost of ownership.

Your Challenge: User Acceptance
VASCO’s Solution: DIGIPASS authenticators are easy to use and do not require additional training. Branding of hardware authenticators is another great way to increase user adoption and promote your school.

Approach:

Implementing security for large end-user groups can be a challenge, so VASCO suggests educational institutions implement VASCO’s two-factor authentication solution in phases. Prioritize by starting with IT staff, finance departments, and healthcare services to ensure data privacy and regulatory compliance. Other departments will follow suit. 

Components:

Client products:

• DIGIPASS GO Series
• Virtual DIGIPASS
• DIGIPASS CertID
• DIGIPASS for Mobile
• DIGIPASS Pack for Remote Authentication

Server Products

• IDENTIKEY
• VACMAN Controller
• aXsGUARD

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