Sector-specific Issues of IT Security in Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

Due to the special properties of higher education  institutions, their IT systems are also different from the  usual ones, which in some areas significantly differ from those of market players. The consequences of the open  university environment, the need to make information  more widely available and the promotion of academic and  research freedom make it much more difficult to fulfil IT  security tasks. Therefore, the university environment  requires specific attitudes and specific methods from IT  professionals in certain areas, while there is little literature  available on the identification of its values, the analysis of  its threats and incidents, and its specificities, with no  Hungarian relevance. The aim of the article is to review the  academic literature on IT protection in the academic sector,  to identify the problems specific to the sector and  their Hungarian implications, and to identify similarities and  differences based on the author’s experience as an IT  manager in a university.