COVER story
Galeboe Mogotsi, CISO at University of Witwatersrand, reveals the academic sector’ s unique vulnerabilities and how a collaborative, people-first approach is key to its digital resilience.
THE CISO’ S DILEMMA: SECURING A UNIVERSITY WITHOUT CLOSING IT DOWN
n a digital landscape where threats
I evolve quicker than policies can adapt, South Africa’ s universities have become prime targets for cybercrime. Open by design and decentralised by nature, higher education institutions confront increasing threats to intellectual property, research outputs and student data.
For Galeboe Mogotsi, Chief Information Security Officer at Wits ICT, the solution lies not only in firewalls and filters but also in fostering a culture shift that balances collaboration with vigilance.
“ We’ re not like corporates,” Mogotsi said, speaking from his Johannesburg office.“ Universities are inherently open, fluid and collaborative. That’ s what makes them valuable. But it also makes them vulnerable.”
There are several challenges; phishing remains the most persistent and widespread threat, with students and academics regularly targeted by socially engineered emails to extract login credentials.
Once attackers are in, they can move laterally through systems, mining sensitive data or disrupting operations.“ Phishing is still number one,” Mogotsi confirmed.“ But ransomware is catching up, and we’ re also seeing more data breaches – particularly as we operate across hybrid environments that include both on-premise and multi-cloud systems.”
Complicating matters further is the ever-present risk of internal missteps.“ You can have all the best security tools in place,” he said,“ but it only takes one person to click the wrong link.”
An architecture of readiness
In response, Wits ICT has built what Mogotsi described as a‘ multi-layered’ security approach. It includes advanced email filtering systems, routine security awareness training for staff and students, and constant network monitoring. Like many institutions across South Africa, Wits also partners with a managed Security Operations Centre
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