Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Podcast: The Link Between Academic Fraud and Cybersecurity Risk

Campus Technology Insider Podcast

The Campus Technology Insider podcast explores current trends and issues impacting technology leaders in higher education. Listen in as Executive Editor Rhea Kelly chats with ed tech experts and practitioners about their work, ideas and experiences.

The Link Between Academic Fraud and Cybersecurity Risk

Since students have returned to school and remote learning this fall, there has been a dramatic increase in internet searches related to academic fraud — that's according to data from Cisco Talos. In a recent blog post, the threat intelligence team detailed how essay mills operate and how academic fraud websites can lead to more serious cybersecurity threats. It's a wild ride through falsified app reviews, shoddy workmanship and a rabbit hole of malicious activity.

Here at Campus Technology we had our own run-in with an essay-writing company last year – of course we weren't utilizing their services, but rather trying to schedule an interview for a story exploring the issue of contract cheating from the shadier side of the fence. After several e-mails with the company's communications director, and an agreement that they would answer questions only by e-mail, they suddenly stopped responding entirely. What's more, when we tried to track down background information on the person we'd been in contact with, there really wasn't any — his or her name was clearly a pseudonym. Ultimately, we gave up on the story.

Jaeson Schultz

Jaeson Schultz

For this episode of the podcast, I spoke with Jaeson Schultz, technical leader at Cisco Talos, about his research into academic fraud and the potentially hazardous websites and applications that go along with it.

Resource links:

Where to Listen

Campus Technology Insider is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify and Stitcher. Subscribe today or listen below, and stay tuned for more episodes!

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • connected professionals abstract network

    Educause President and CEO John O'Brien Announces Retirement

    John O'Brien, president and CEO of Educause, has announced his intention to retire in August 2027.

  • Blurred silhouettes of business people in a modern office with a glowing blue network overlay

    Open Secure AI Alliance Moves to Linux Foundation

    The Open Secure AI Alliance has moved under the Linux Foundation, giving the initiative what the organizations describe as a neutral home for developing open source tools, shared standards and defensive practices. The Alliance was launched by NVIDIA in July to develop open security technologies for AI systems and agents.

  • digital brain integrating legal regulation and security interface

    Agentic AI Moves from Pilot Phase to Production, Bringing Governance to the Forefront

    New research from Caylent, an AI-focused Amazon Web Services Premier Tier Services Partner, found that enterprises are already moving agentic AI beyond pilots and into production environments. At the same time, organizations are putting strict conditions around autonomy, making governance and control the next major challenge for enterprise AI adoption.

  • circuit patterns

    Anthropic Launches Lower-Cost Claude Sonnet 5

    Anthropic has released Claude Sonnet 5, positioning the model as its most autonomous mid-tier offering to date and a lower-cost alternative to its flagship Opus 4.8 system. The company said the model can plan multi-step tasks, operate tools such as browsers and terminals, and complete agentic work at a level that previously required larger and more expensive models.