Photo from Saby’s time at Punjab Engineering College. Provided by Saby Waraich.

Cole Sowders
News Editor

Clackamas Community College’s Chief Information Officer Saby Waraich is stepping down after six years.

His departure comes as colleges and businesses face rising cybersecurity risks and rapid changes in artificial intelligence, two areas Waraich said require more urgency from educational institutions. 

During his tenure, CCC experienced two major cyberattacks, including a 2024 incident that shut down operations and a 2025 breach that resulted in multiple lawsuits. 

Headshot of Saby Waraich. Photo taken by Gabriel Elmosleh.

Originally from Chandigarh, India, Waraich studied at Punjab Engineering College before moving to the United States in 2003 and later earned a master’s degree from Portland State University. Waraich said his educational experience in India was shaped by intense competition and a stronger emphasis on memorization, while education in the United States felt more experience based.

Although he said he never expected to become a CIO, Waraich said his work at Clackamas Community College centered on “building systems and pushing for improvements even when resources were tight.”

One of his biggest priorities during Waraich’s tenure was improving the college’s cybersecurity posture. The Clackamas Community College faced significant vulnerabilities when he first arrived, including broad access that allowed users to install software on workstations without enough control.

Clackamas Community College had to quickly expand remote technology capabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, standardize IT processes and work toward stabilizing its enterprise resource planning system, commonly known as its ERP or student information system. 

Still, Waraich said “the college has more work to do.”

One of his main concerns is that the college still uses a system stored on its own servers instead of a more modern cloud based one.

He said keeping the servers physically on campus increases the support burden on the college, and makes security updates more difficult. Moving the system to the cloud would reduce some of that risk by shifting management and infrastructure responsibilities to the vendor.

“All the data is residing on those servers,” said Waraich of the current system. “When we say cloud, that means our vendor will be managing all of it.” 

Photo of Saby Waraich talking about pushing the college further technologically. Photo taken by Gabriel Elmosleh.

Waraich began pushing for that transition years ago, but the process has since moved slowly. A broader assessment is now expected to help determine whether the college should remain with its current system and move it to the cloud, or pursue something new.

Cybersecurity funding was another recurring challenge. Waraich had developed an information security roadmap in 2021 that identified dozens of needed initiatives and requested about $2.8 million and five additional staff positions. He said the request was denied because “the college did not have the money.”

Institutions often move too slowly on issues that require faster action. “I think we are slow in making decisions,” said Waraich.

“Some things we need to make faster decisions, and some we need to make slower decisions. But we can’t just put everything in one bucket and say, yeah, everything is going to be slow here,” added Waraich. 

He described a separate proposal for a student-facing chatbot that would answer questions after hours and route unresolved concerns to staff for follow up. That proof-of-concept request, which sought about $40,000 from an innovation fund, was ultimately rejected after about a year of presentation and review.

Cyber threats are constant, even if most people on campus do not see them, Waraich said. “We get attacked every single day, the challenge here is that folks don’t see it, so it seems like it’s invisible to them,” explained Waraich.

The most significant cyber security challenge of his tenure came in January 2024, when a cyber incident forced the college to close for a week and left students and staff without access to email and other platforms. Waraich declined to discuss further details about the most recent attack in 2025 because conversations around the matter are still ongoing.    

“An outside organization provided through the college’s cybersecurity insurance helped investigate the attack,” explained Waraich.

Looking ahead, colleges also need to prepare for emerging risks tied to AI and quantum computing, according to Waraich. Stating how AI tools can be used both productively and maliciously, including by bad actors looking for weaknesses in institutional systems.

Organizations should begin planning now for the longer-term risks posed by quantum computing, which could “dramatically reduce the time needed to crack passwords and encryption,” noted Waraich.

In the classroom, Waraich explained “AI should be treated as a tool that supports learning, not one that replaces it.” 

“Colleges should teach students how to use AI effectively while still emphasizing core skills such as critical thinking. AI is a tool, it doesn’t replace your core thinking,” added Waraich.

He warned against students relying on AI to complete work for them, saying that approach can weaken learning instead of improving it. Rather than asking AI to produce answers, he said students should use it to quiz themselves, guide study or deepen understanding.

When asked what advice he would give to the person stepping into a similar leadership role, Waraich explained that understanding campus culture and continuing to push for innovation will be essential.

“Build relationships, don’t stop innovating and don’t stop pushing for better things,” stated Waraich.