Campuses can reduce the cost and risk of vendors by implementing CyberPassport.

CyberPassport, a new all-in-one platform designed to assess and reduce the cyber risks of third parties unveiled its new service at the University Risk Management and Insurance Association (URMIA) Annual Conference this week.

Anyone who’s been paying attention to the state of cybersecurity knows universities are prime targets for cybercriminals. Last year, 64 percent of institutions reported they were hit by a ransomware attack. Of those that were hit, 70 percent originated from a third-party vendor system.

“During my decades of building companies focused on the needs of colleges and universities, the current cyber threat has created a new imperative for schools and vendors to take steps to fortify their cyber-posture,” said John Fees, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of CyberPassport.

“Colleges and universities are among the most expensive of all sectors to remediate with the average cost of each breach being $1,420,000,” said Todd Bankofier, President and Co-Founder of CyberPassport.

CyberPassport is an easy-to-implement, all-in-one platform that provides colleges and universities the ability to assess, reduce, and remediate the risk inherent in doing business with third-party suppliers.

Participating schools will be able to use CyberPassport as a tool to gain insight into the state of their vendor networks’ cybersecurity. CyberPassport assesses the cyber risk created by vendors and verifies that they will be able to pay for the potential damages with active and relevant cyber insurance coverage.