By Industry · Higher Education

GRC where every regime lands on one small team

A university is a hospital, a bank, a research lab, and a business at once, protecting student records, patient data, financial aid, and federal research on a security team a fraction the size. FERPA, GLBA, HIPAA, and CMMC all apply, often to the same institution.

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The landscape

One institution, every kind of data

Higher education carries almost every category of regulated data. FERPA governs student records; the GLBA Safeguards Rule now binds any institution handling federal financial aid, requiring a documented security program and vendor oversight; campus health centers fall under HIPAA; and research funded by the federal government or the Department of Defense brings NIST 800-171 and CMMC for Controlled Unclassified Information. Payments add PCI DSS on top.

FERPA GLBA Safeguards HIPAA NIST 800-171 CMMC 2.0 PCI DSS NIST CSF ISO 27001
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the compliance regimes a single university can juggle at once: FERPA, GLBA, HIPAA, PCI DSS, NIST 800-171, and CMMC, usually on a security team a fraction the size of a corporate one.

And it is all under attack. Educational institutions suffered hundreds of ransomware incidents last year, with millions of records breached and, in some cases, entire campuses locked out of grades, transcripts, and financial systems. Decentralized IT and open networks make the target larger still.

Why it is hard

Enterprise obligations, a fraction of the team

Each regime, FERPA, GLBA, HIPAA, CMMC, was written as if it were the only one that mattered. A single institution has to satisfy all of them, across a sprawling, decentralized environment, with a security team that is usually a fraction of what a comparable business would have.

Managed as separate programs, that is the same overworked staff producing the same evidence again and again, and gaps opening up wherever the frameworks are handled in isolation.

How SimpleRisk fits

One control library, every obligation

SimpleRisk treats the campus the way it should be treated: as one connected set of controls, mapped once and shared across every department, regime, and audit.

  • Map once, satisfy many. Through the Secure Controls Framework, one control maps across FERPA-aligned safeguards, GLBA, HIPAA, CMMC, PCI DSS, and 250-plus frameworks, so you test once and satisfy many at the same time.
  • Do more with a small team. Run one program instead of five, so lean staff spend their time on security, not rebuilding the same evidence for each regime.
  • Bring departments and vendors together. Track risk across decentralized units and third parties in one register, so nothing falls through the gaps.
  • Prove it on demand. Define tests, run audits, and be ready for a GLBA audit, a CMMC assessment, or a FERPA review at any time.
Compliance in SimpleRisk → Risk Management → Secure Controls Framework →

Cover every regime with one small team

Start a free trial or book a demo, and see how SimpleRisk maps your controls across every framework a college or university has to meet.

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