What are the top Higher Education companies by cybersecurity score?

Rankiteo ranks Higher Education companies with 3,000+ employees using a proprietary cyber resilience score (0–1000). The top-rated companies demonstrate superior security posture across external attack surface, vulnerability management, DNS/SSL configuration, and threat intelligence. Visit the full ranking to see the latest Top 100.

How is the Higher Education cybersecurity score calculated?

Rankiteo's cyber resilience score (0–1000) is computed through automated assessment of a company's external attack surface, open vulnerabilities, DNS and SSL configuration, email security (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), dark web exposure, threat intelligence feeds, and historical cyber incident data. Companies are assigned letter-grade bands from Aaa (best, 900–1000) to C (worst, 0–549).

Why does the Higher Education cybersecurity ranking matter?

The Higher Education sector faces unique cyber threats including data breaches, ransomware, and supply-chain attacks. This ranking helps CISOs benchmark against peers, insurers assess risk, and investors evaluate cyber resilience. Companies with higher scores typically have fewer incidents and lower risk exposure.

What does each security band (Aaa, Aa, A, etc.) mean?

Security bands classify companies by score range: Aaa (900–1000) represents best-in-class cyber posture, Aa (850–899) excellent, A (800–849) very good, Baa (750–799) good, Ba (700–749) adequate, B (650–699) below average, Caa (600–649) poor, Ca (550–599) very poor, and C (0–549) critical risk. Each band reflects the company's overall cybersecurity readiness.

Top 100 Best Higher Education Companies

Discover the highest-rated Higher Education companies with 3,000+ employees, ranked by Rankiteo's proprietary cyber resilience scoring methodology. 137 companies scored.

807

Companies in Industry

137

Scored

767.9

Avg Score

Cyber Incidents

Top 100

Shown

Add your company to the ranking

Higher Education Cybersecurity Rankings - Best Companies in 2026

The Higher Education sector is home to 807 companies with 3,000 or more employees that Rankiteo actively monitors for cybersecurity resilience. This page presents the Top 100 highest-scoring organizations, ranked by our proprietary Cyber Resilience Score - a composite metric that integrates time-decayed incident exposure, sector-sensitive impact analysis, and market-cap-aware baseline and dampening to produce a single, interpretable score between 100 and 1,000.

Companies at the top of this ranking have the fewest and least-severe recorded cyber incidents - including ransomware attacks, data breaches, and publicly disclosed vulnerabilities. Their scores benefit from clean or near-clean incident histories, favorable industry-level resilience adjustments, and, where applicable, scale-aware baseline anchoring. These organizations serve as benchmarks for what strong cybersecurity posture looks like in the Higher Education industry.

The average cyber resilience score for Higher Education companies with 3,000+ employees is currently 767.9 out of 1,000, placing the industry in the Ba–Baa range - adequate but with room for improvement.

Key Insights

823

Highest Score

767.9

Industry Average

15%

Scoring A or Above

Recorded Incidents

AI Analysis

Cybersecurity in Higher Education

Generating industry analysis...

Score Distribution

Aaa

0 (0.0%)

20 (14.6%)

Baa

85 (62.0%)

24 (17.5%)

6 (4.4%)

Caa

1 (0.7%)

0 (0.0%)

1 (0.7%)

#	Company	Label	Score	Band	Incidents
1	Stanford Universitystanford.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	823	A	0
2	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaignillinois.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	811	A	0
3	Indiana University Bloomingtoniu.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	810	A	0
4	Arizona State Universityasu.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	806	A	1
5	University of California, Davisucdavis.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	806	A	0
6	North Carolina State Universityncsu.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	805	A	0
7	Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chileuc.cl	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	805	A	0
8	UC San Diegoucsd.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	805	A	0
9	University of South Africa/Universiteit van Suid-Afrikaac.za	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	805	A	0
10	Western Governors Universitywgu.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	804	A	0
11	Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bolognaunibo.it	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	803	A	0
12	University of Kentuckyuky.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	803	A	0
13	Ain Shams Universityshams.edu.eg	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	802	A	0
14	ETH Zürichethz.ch	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	802	A	0
15	The University of Georgiauga.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	802	A	0
16	Nanyang Technological University Singaporentu.edu.sg	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	801	A	0
17	Tsinghua Universitytsinghua.edu.cn	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	801	A	0
18	University of Johannesburgac.za	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	801	A	0
19	University of Virginiavirginia.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	801	A	1
20	The California State Universitycalstate.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	800	A	0
21	The George Washington Universitygwu.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	799	Baa	0
22	University of Tehranac.ir	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	798	Baa	0
23	University of the Punjabpu.edu.pk	-	798	Baa	0
24	University of the Witwatersrandac.za	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	798	Baa	0
25	York Universityyorku.ca	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	798	Baa	1
26	Georgetown Universitygeorgetown.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	797	Baa	0
27	University of Alabama at Birminghamuab.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	797	Baa	0
28	The University of Sheffieldsheffield.ac.uk	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	797	Baa	0
29	Iowa State Universityiastate.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	796	Baa	0
30	Lund Universitylu.se	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	796	Baa	0
31	Oklahoma State Universityokstate.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	796	Baa	0
32	Uppsala Universityuu.se	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	796	Baa	0
33	Vanderbilt Universityvanderbilt.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	796	Baa	0
34	Indian Institute of Technology, Delhiiitd.ac.in	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	795	Baa	0
35	School of Visual Artssva.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	795	Baa	0
36	University of Nebraska-Lincolnunl.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	795	Baa	0
37	The University of Texas at Arlingtonuta.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	795	Baa	0
38	EPFLepfl.ch	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	794	Baa	0
39	Amsterdam University of Applied Scienceshva.nl	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	794	Baa	0
40	INACAPinacap.cl	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	794	Baa	0
41	Kansas State Universityk-state.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	794	Baa	0
42	Stellenbosch Universitysun.ac.za	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	794	Baa	0
43	University of the Philippinesup.edu.ph	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	794	Baa	0
44	California State University, Northridgecsun.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	793	Baa	0
45	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Universityerau.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	792	Baa	0
46	The Chinese University of Hong Kongcuhk.edu.hk	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	792	Baa	0
47	Auburn Universityauburn.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	791	Baa	1
48	Fashion Institute of Technologyfitnyc.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	790	Baa	0
49	Mississippi State Universitymsstate.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	790	Baa	0
50	Queen's University Belfastqub.ac.uk	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	790	Baa	0
51	University of Westminsterwestminster.ac.uk	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	790	Baa	0
52	Universidade do Portoup.pt	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	789	Baa	0
53	University of Saskatchewanusask.ca	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	789	Baa	0
54	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispocalpoly.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	788	Baa	0
55	The University of Texas at El Pasoutep.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	788	Baa	0
56	Universiti Putra Malaysiaupm.edu.my	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	788	Baa	0
57	Universidad de Puerto Ricoupr.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	788	Baa	0
58	University of Surreysurrey.ac.uk	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	788	Baa	0
59	Utah Valley Universityuvu.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	788	Baa	0
60	Victoria Universityvu.edu.au	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	788	Baa	0
61	University of Birminghamac.uk	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	787	Baa	1
62	UT Health San Antoniouthealthsa.org	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	787	Baa	0
63	Colorado School of Minesmines.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	786	Baa	0
64	Edith Cowan Universityecu.edu.au	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	786	Baa	0
65	Nantes Universitéuniv-nantes.fr	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	786	Baa	0
66	San José State Universitysjsu.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	785	Baa	1
67	St. John's Universitystjohns.edu	-	785	Baa	0
68	University of Liègeuliege.be	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	785	Baa	0
69	University of San Diegosandiego.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	785	Baa	0
70	University of Southern Californiausc.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	785	Baa	1
71	University of Limerickul.ie	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	785	Baa	0
72	Wake Forest Universitywfu.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	785	Baa	0
73	University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campuscuanschutz.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	784	Baa	0
74	Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahatiac.in	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	784	Baa	0
75	Illinois Institute of Technologyiit.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	784	Baa	0
76	Thomas Jefferson Universityjefferson.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	784	Baa	0
77	Bilkent Universitybilkent.edu.tr	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	783	Baa	0
78	California State University, FresnoFresnoState.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	783	Baa	1
79	Temasek Polytechnictp.edu.sg	-	783	Baa	0
80	Leipzig Universityuni-leipzig.de	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	783	Baa	0
81	University of Luxembourguni.lu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	783	Baa	0
82	The University of Waikatoac.nz	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	783	Baa	0
83	ECPI Universityecpi.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	782	Baa	0
84	King Faisal Universitykfu.edu.sa	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	782	Baa	0
85	University of Massachusettsyoutube.com	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	782	Baa	0
86	Pima Community Collegepima.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	781	Baa	0
87	Tampere Universitytuni.fi	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	781	Baa	0
88	The Australian National Universityanu.edu.au	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	779	Baa	1
89	Northeastern Universitynortheastern.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	776	Baa	1
90	University of Minnesotaumn.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	775	Baa	1
91	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelonauab.cat	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	774	Baa	1
92	University of Yorkac.uk	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	774	Baa	1
93	University of Calgaryucalgary.ca	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	773	Baa	1
94	Saxion University of Applied Sciencessaxion.nl	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	772	Baa	0
95	University of Phoenixuof.ph	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	772	Baa	1
96	Goethe University Frankfurtuni-frankfurt.de	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	771	Baa	0
97	University of Leedsac.uk	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	771	Baa	1
98	Ben-Gurion University of the Negevbgu.ac.il	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	767	Baa	1
99	Texas Tech University Health Sciences Centerttuhsc.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	767	Baa	1
100	University of Marylandumd.edu	Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools	765	Baa	1

How We Score Higher Education Companies

Rankiteo's Cyber Resilience Score produces a single, interpretable value between 100 and 1,000 for each organization, where higher scores indicate lower estimated cyber risk. The framework integrates three principal components that together balance evidence, context, and comparability across industries and company sizes. Learn more in our AI Cyber Score methodology.

Scoring Components

Time-Decayed Incident Exposure (P_inc): Every confirmed cyber incident - ransomware, data breach, cyber attack, or disclosed vulnerability - contributes a penalty weighted by recency and scaled by quantitative severity (financial loss and records exposed). Category-specific base weights reflect real-world impact: ransomware (100 pts), data breach (60 pts), cyber attack (20 pts), and vulnerability (5 pts). Each category decays at a different rate - roughly 3 years for ransomware and data breaches, 2 years for cyber attacks, and 18 months for vulnerabilities - so that older, lower-impact events fade while recent, severe incidents retain lasting influence.
Sector-Sensitive Impact Multipliers: Identical incidents carry different weight depending on the industry. Each NAICS sector receives multipliers based on four dimensions: safety-of-life risk, service continuity, regulatory/legal exposure, and data sensitivity. For example, a ransomware attack on a hospital or a utility carries a higher penalty than the same attack on a retail company, reflecting the greater real-world consequences.
Market-Cap Baseline & Dampening: A logistic baseline between 750 and 850 anchors each company's starting score based on organizational size. A continuous dampening factor attenuates incident penalties for very large firms, recognizing that larger organizations face higher disclosure rates and typically have greater absorption capacity - without masking genuinely severe events.
Industry Adjustment (A_ind): A bounded additive term derived from NAICS-level historical incident-rate z-scores. This adjustment rewards companies in historically resilient sectors - but only when they maintain a clean or near-clean incident record. Once any material recent incident occurs, the firm-specific track record dominates the score.
Quantitative Severity Scaling: When financial loss or records-exposed data is available, the incident penalty is amplified proportionally - scaled relative to the company's market capitalization so that the same dollar loss has a larger effect on a smaller firm. The combined severity multiplier is capped at 3× to prevent outliers from dominating.
Ransomware Recurrence Escalation: Repeated ransomware events within a short timeframe trigger a bounded recurrence multiplier (up to 1.5×), reflecting the elevated systemic risk of persistent adversarial footholds or remediation failures.

Understanding the Bands

Each company's numerical score is also mapped to a letter-grade band for quick comparison. Here is what each band means for Higher Education companies:

Aaa (900–1,000): Exceptional cyber resilience. Top-tier security across all measured dimensions.
Aa (800–899): Very strong posture with minimal identifiable weaknesses.
A (700–799): Strong security practices with some areas for improvement.
Baa (600–699): Adequate protection, but notable gaps in security configuration exist.
Ba (500–599): Below average. Multiple risk areas require attention.
B (400–499): Weak security posture with significant exposure across several categories.
Caa (300–399): Very weak. High probability of exploitable vulnerabilities.
Ca (200–299): Critically poor security with severe, widespread gaps.
C (0–199): Extreme risk. Immediate remediation needed across the board.

Why Higher Education Cybersecurity Matters

As digital transformation accelerates, higher education organizations handle growing volumes of sensitive data - from customer records and financial information to proprietary intellectual property. A breach in this sector can lead to regulatory penalties, reputational damage, operational disruption, and loss of customer trust.

Supply chain risk is another critical factor. Even if your organization is not in the Higher Education sector directly, third-party vendors and partners in this industry may represent a significant part of your supply chain risk profile. Evaluating the cyber resilience of higher education companies helps procurement teams, risk officers, and CISOs make data-driven decisions about vendor selection and ongoing monitoring.

Rankiteo tracks 807 higher education companies with 3,000+ employees, updating scores on a continuous basis so you always have the latest view of the industry's cybersecurity landscape.

Explore More Rankings

Dive deeper into cybersecurity rankings across industries and perspectives. Use these resources to benchmark, compare, and monitor cyber risk.

⚠Worst Higher Education CompaniesSee the lowest-scoring companies in this industry 🏆Top Companies - All IndustriesCompare the best companies across every sector 📈Worst Companies - All IndustriesIdentify the highest-risk companies across sectors