Colleges are confronting a less visible danger than ransomware: shadow data—institutional information captured and shared outside approved systems. As campuses expand cloud services, analytics and AI, unsanctioned data flows create FERPA and privacy exposure. District and campus leaders also face rising cyberattacks; K‑12 reporting shows phishing, ransomware and resource constraints are crippling smaller districts. Institutions must inventory shadow datasets, tighten governance, and prioritize basic cyber hygiene—patching, multi‑factor authentication and principled data‑access controls—to avoid regulatory and reputational harm.