Factors Influencing Higher Education Employees’ Cybersecurity Behavior

This pedagogical case examines cybersecurity compliance in a higher education institution after a professor shares credentials with an administrative assistant, who later enters them into a phishing website. The case places educational leaders at the intersection of employee workload, policy design, cybersecurity training, faculty autonomy, and institutional responsibility. Taley Tech University has technical safeguards and annual training, yet the breach illustrates tensions between formal policy and day-to-day practice. Teaching notes connect the case to research on higher education cybersecurity, security-related stress and fatigue, phishing susceptibility, organizational cybersecurity culture, and leadership. Activities support use in graduate preparation programs and professional learning.