Network Segmentation: The Key to Securing Higher Education Networks

Administrators and students now expect school districts, colleges, and universities to have access to all users, workloads, and devices in their IT infrastructure everywhere, even as they face an ever-growing threat landscape. One of the most insidious tactics used by cybercriminals targeting higher education institutions is lateral movement - the ability to traverse networks and spread malware or ransomware across multiple systems. This blog post explores how network segmentation, particularly microsegmentation, can effectively combat lateral movement attacks, providing a robust defense for schools and universities.

The Lateral Movement Challenge in Higher Education

Universities and school districts are prime targets for cyberattacks due to their vast stores of sensitive data and often limited cybersecurity resources. Once attackers gain a foothold in a higher education network, they can exploit east-west traffic (communication between devices within the same network) to spread malware, escalate privileges, and ultimately cause widespread damage.

Recent examples of attacks leveraging lateral movement in higher education include:

• The 2023 MOVEit breach affecting multiple universities, including the University of Georgia and Colorado State University
• The 2021 University of California data breach impacting several campuses
• The 2020 Blackbaud ransomware attack affecting over 100 colleges and universities

In each of these cases, attackers were able to move laterally through university networks, accessing and exfiltrating sensitive data from multiple systems. Implementing network segmentation in educational institutions has long been a best practice for preventing lateral movement.

MITRE ATT&CK Tactics and Techniques in Higher Ed Attacks

Lateral movement attacks on universities and school districts typically employ the following MITRE ATT&CK tactics and techniques:

• Initial Access (TA0001): Phishing (T1566), Valid Accounts (T1078)
• Execution (TA0002): Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059)
• Persistence (TA0003): Create Account (T1136)
• Privilege Escalation (TA0004): Access Token Manipulation (T1134)
• Defense Evasion (TA0005): Masquerading (T1036)
• Credential Access (TA0006): Brute Force (T1110)
• Discovery (TA0007): Network Service Scanning (T1046)
• Lateral Movement (TA0008): Remote Services (T1021), Internal Spearphishing (T1534)
• Collection (TA0009): Data from Network Shared Drive (T1039)
• Exfiltration (TA0010): Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol (T1048)

Limitations of Traditional Security Approaches in Higher Education

While many universities and school districts have invested in perimeter-focused security tools, these often fall short in preventing lateral movement within higher education networks:

• Network Access Control (NAC): Focuses on endpoint authentication but doesn't restrict east-west traffic once devices are on the university network.
• Firewalls and Access Control Lists (ACLs): Provide coarse-grained segmentation but lack the granularity needed to effectively isolate individual workloads and applications in complex higher education environments. They are also incredibly difficult to maintain and insert new rules and allow and block entries.
• VLANs: Offer basic network segmentation but are static and difficult to manage at scale, especially in dynamic university and school district networks.
• Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW): While effective at north-south traffic control, they struggle with the volume and complexity of east-west traffic in modern higher education networks.

These traditional approaches often result in overly permissive internal networks, allowing attackers to move freely once they've breached the perimeter of a university or school district network.

The Power of Network Segmentation in Higher Education

Network segmentation, particularly microsegmentation, addresses the shortcomings of traditional security measures by creating fine-grained, software-defined security perimeters around individual workloads, applications, and even data. This approach offers several key advantages for universities and school districts:

1. Discovery: Modern microsegmentation platforms and integrations with solutions like Claroty and Armis enable discovery of every device on a network.
2. Granular Control: Network segmentation allows for precise control over which systems and applications can communicate with each other, drastically reducing the attack surface in higher education environments.
3. Visibility: Gain deep insights into university network traffic patterns, making it easier to detect and respond to anomalies in school district IT infrastructures.
4. Scalability: Software-defined policies can be automatically applied to new workloads, keeping pace with the dynamic nature of educational IT environments.
5. Flexibility: Easily adapt security policies to changing needs without reconfiguring physical network infrastructure in universities and schools.
6. Compliance: Meet regulatory requirements for data protection and access control more effectively across higher education institutions.

Regulatory Compliance and Network Segmentation in Higher Ed

Many regulations and frameworks applicable to higher education institutions either require or strongly recommend network segmentation:

• FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act): While not explicitly mandating segmentation, FERPA requires protection of student records, which network segmentation can help achieve in universities and schools.
• HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act): Applicable to university health centers, HIPAA requires safeguards to protect electronic protected health information (ePHI).
• PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard): Requires network segmentation to isolate cardholder data environments in higher education institutions.
• NIST SP 800-171: Mandates separating and protecting Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) in non-federal systems, including those in universities and colleges.
• CMMC 2.0 (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification): Includes requirements for limiting internal system access and segregating networks in higher education settings.
• HECVAT (Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Toolkit): While focused on third-party risk, it emphasizes the importance of network segmentation in universities.
• State-specific regulations: Many states have enacted their own student privacy laws, such as California's Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SOPIPA) and New York's Education Law 2-d, which require strong data protection measures in schools and universities.

Implementing Network Segmentation: A Team Effort in Higher Education

Successfully deploying network segmentation in universities and school districts requires collaboration across multiple departments:

• IT Leadership (CIO/CISO): Provide strategic direction and secure budget allocation for network segmentation projects.
• Network Architects: Design the overall segmentation strategy and integration with existing higher education infrastructure.
• Security Teams: Define security policies and monitor for threats across university networks.
• Application Owners: Identify critical assets and communication flows within school district IT environments.
• Compliance Officers: Ensure alignment with regulatory requirements specific to higher education.
• End Users (Faculty/Staff/Students): Adapt to new access controls and report issues in the segmented network environment.

Benefits of Modern Network Segmentation Platforms for Universities and Schools

Today's network segmentation solutions offer powerful features that align with Zero Trust and least-privilege access principles, crucial for higher education environments:

• Automated Policy Generation: AI-driven tools can analyze network traffic and suggest and, in the case of Elisty automate appropriate segmentation policies for university networks.
• Dynamic Adaptation: Policies automatically adjust to changes in the school district network environment.
• Deeper Integration with Existing Security Tools: Enhance the value of current security investments in universities and colleges.
• Visualization and Analytics: Gain deep insights into network behavior and potential threats across higher education IT infrastructures.
• Identity-Based Policies: Create policies based on user identities and roles rather than just IP addresses, crucial for managing diverse user groups in educational settings.

Network Segmentation as a Critical Defense for Higher Education

As Forrester Research recently stated in the Forrester Wave™: Microsegmentation Solutions, Q3 2024 “We're Living In The Golden Age Of Microsegmentation” stands out as a crucial strategy for preventing lateral movement and minimizing the impact of east-west attacks.

By implementing modern microsegmentation solutions, organizations in healthcare, manufacturing, energy, educational institutions, and other critical sectors can significantly enhance their security posture, ensure compliance with regulations, and protect their most valuable assets.

As cyber threats continue to evolve, educational institutions must adopt more sophisticated security measures to protect their valuable data and resources. Microsegmentation offers a powerful solution to the challenge of lateral movement attacks, providing granular control and visibility across complex network environments.

By embracing microsegmentation, schools and universities can significantly reduce their attack surface, meet regulatory requirements, and create a more resilient IT infrastructure. While implementation requires careful planning and collaboration across departments, the benefits in terms of improved security posture and reduced risk are substantial.

To learn more about how the Elisity platform can help protect your educational instituion from lateral movement and east-west attacks while enhancing your overall security posture, contact us for a conversation or a personalized demo.