Higher education cybersecurity leaders are warning that the next major breach is likely to start outside campus networks as attackers increasingly exploit third-party vendors. James Lee, president of the Identity Theft Resource Center, said colleges can accumulate interconnected risk through learning management systems, cloud services, and departmental software—creating supply-chain paths that scale harm across multiple institutions. Lee cited the Canvas breach in May, which exposed more than 3.5 TB of data across thousands of institutions, and pointed to broader exploitation attempts affecting university-connected systems. He also warned that AI-enhanced phishing and malware are making vendor weaknesses more attractive targets. The recommended shift is governance-level due diligence: stronger procurement scrutiny, procurement policies that account for third-party cascading failure, and training that addresses non-IT attack entry points. Lee said policy—not just expensive software—can be the most effective layer when universities cannot anticipate every breach vector. For CIOs, CFOs, and boards, the near-term implication is to treat vendor security as an institutional governance requirement, with clear escalation pathways and auditability across procurement and contracting cycles.