Report: More IoT Device Exposures Seen in Education Institutions

Education institutions have a 14x higher rate of Internet of Things device exposures compared to other industries, according to a recent report from RiskRecon and cybersecurity research firm Cyentia Institute. Researchers analyzed millions of internet-facing hosts controlled by more than 35,000 organizations to find out what types of IoT devices are prevalent in enterprise environments, and how exposed IoT devices can correlate with other security-related risks.

In the education sector, 6.6 percent of organizations had exposed IoT devices, compared to the base rate of 0.5 percent across industries. Taking all industries into account, the top three types of exposed IoT devices were: cameras, "management interfaces" (meaning a variety of devices using generic IoT development software) and printers. Of those exposed devices, the researchers found, 85.7 percent had "critical" security issues that could result in serious compromise.

Organizations with exposed IoT devices also had a 62 percent higher density of other security issues. The biggest increase was seen in network filtering and software patching issues, which both jumped at least 60 percent in correlation with exposed IoT devices vs. non-exposed IoT devices.

The full report is available on the RiskRecon site (registration required).

About the Author

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

Featured

  • semi-transparent AI brain with circuit elements under a microscope

    Anthropic Develops AI 'Microscope' to Reveal the Hidden Mechanics of LLM Thought

    Anthropic has unveiled new research tools designed to provide a rare glimpse into the hidden reasoning processes of advanced language models — like a "microscope" for AI.

  • illustration of a human head with a glowing neural network in the brain, connected to tech icons on a cool blue-gray background

    Meta Launches Stand-Alone AI App

    Meta Platforms has introduced a stand-alone artificial intelligence app built on its proprietary Llama 4 model, intensifying the competitive race in generative AI alongside OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and xAI.

  • modern college building with circuit and brain motifs

    Anthropic Launches Claude for Education

    Anthropic has announced a version of its Claude AI assistant tailored for higher education institutions. Claude for Education "gives academic institutions secure, reliable AI access for their entire community," the company said, to enable colleges and universities to develop and implement AI-enabled approaches across teaching, learning, and administration.

  • laptop and fish hook

    Security Firm Identifies Generative AI 'Vishing' Attack

    A new report from Ontinue's Cyber Defense Center has identified a complex, multi-stage cyber attack that leveraged social engineering, remote access tools, and signed binaries to infiltrate and persist within a target network.