Keeper Security: AI Phishing & Identity Risks in Education IT

Keeper Security is urging education IT teams to strengthen identity security before the new academic year. This is due to new risks from AI-powered phishing, deepfake impersonation, and unmanaged non-human identities. Here's the thing: The annual influx of students and staff means creating many new accounts and devices. This can open doors for attackers to exploit weak security. Keeper research shows only 14% of schools require security awareness training. Also, nearly one in five students and parents reuse passwords. What's interesting is how AI is changing phishing. Attackers can now generate convincing messages and even use deepfake technology for voice and video impersonations. Fifty-two percent of education leaders are concerned about deepfake impersonation, but only 26% feel confident recognizing AI threats. Forty-one percent of institutions have already faced AI-generated phishing attempts. Non-human identities are another growing risk. These include service accounts, API keys, and AI agents. These can remain active even when no longer needed, or have too many permissions. The bottom line: Education IT teams need to audit all identities, both human and non-human, enforce multi-factor authentication, and remove old credentials to protect against these evolving threats.