INFORMATION SECURITY ISSUES IN HIGHER EDUCATION

We live in an information society in which development occurs rapidly. Digitalization affects all aspects of society, cutting through all societal functions. Digital platforms make it possible to match demands on things and services and deliver them at a lower cost. Automatization and robotics affect demand for manual operations and workers. Moreover, working life is changing, as it increasingly utilizes an emerging complementary relationship between machines and people. Needs for more knowledge and skills also arise. This article provides a preliminary plan as to how and in what respects the issue of information security might be incorporated into university teachers’ expertise. For example, in distance learning—a form of education distribution requiring computer equipment that is to be provided by the student—information security is crucial. From the educator’s point of view, student identification—in connection with exams, for example—is obviously critical. Digital on-campus exams are another pertinent theme, entailing many opportunities for doing things in new or better ways in comparison with paper exams and the time-consuming administration they involve. New questions arise, however. Certain aspects of information and communication technology entail risks—such as Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks, cybercrime, and sabotage in general. This article will discuss the need for university teachers to be prepared to respond adequately and effectively to information security issues. Examples are given showing how the University of Borås approaches security considerations. A preliminary analysis of the need to include information security in the general knowledge required of all university teachers in the era of eLearning is given.