Private higher educational institutions are at a high risk of cyber-attacks based on the amount of data they consume about students, their families, donors, faculty, and employees. I determined that there was a gap in the body of knowledge concerning how IT leaders in private higher education secure their information assets. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory study was to explore the effective defensive cybersecurity strategies that IT leaders need to protect their information assets in private higher education. This qualitative exploratory study consisted of ten interviews with cybersecurity IT leaders in private higher educational institutions. The interviews consisted of ten semi-structured questions during a Zoom interview. The study found that participants used a variety of ways to protect their environments, such as cybersecurity training, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), policies, cybersecurity insurance, and audits, but faced significant challenges with a lack of financial resources, a lack of qualified cybersecurity staff, difficulty with staffing in external departments, as well as issues enforcing cybersecurity protections, especially among faculty. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]