Recent breaches at colleges have highlighted recurring vulnerabilities across research networks, student records systems and decentralized campus IT infrastructures. Analysts say higher education’s open networks, federated governance and academic priorities often lead campuses to resist centralized security controls, leaving exploitable gaps. The sector faces a rising threatscape driven by ransomware groups, state‑sponsored actors targeting research, and opportunistic criminal crews; higher ed leaders are confronting hard choices about balancing academic openness with robust cyber standards and incident response investments. Experts urge institutions to adopt enterprise‑grade governance, stronger identity controls, and sector‑wide collaboration to reduce attack surface and improve recovery. (Sector reporting and security analysis.)