The education sector continues to be plagued by malicious threats; New research from Microsoft claims that almost half (43%) of UK higher education institutions experience weekly breaches or cyberattacks.
The company's latest Cyber Signals Report states that universities are top targets for malware, IoT vulnerabilities and phishing, with an average of 2,507 cyberattack attempts per week, according to the report.
This makes education the third most targeted sector, behind manufacturing and retail.
A high price
The report identified email systems and networks as a vulnerability for universities as they offer wide spaces for compromise. The need for constant communication both inside and outside school networks leaves room for attacks from external users.
Since higher education facilities contain sensitive information about students and staff but do not have large cybersecurity budgets, they have become an attractive target for threat actors seeking to exfiltrate the data for ransom.
Recent research shows that schools and universities are paying higher ransoms than ever, and more than two-thirds (67%) of IT leaders working in higher education report that they end up paying more than hackers originally asked for.
“Educational institutions feel a responsibility to remain open and continue providing their services to their communities. These two factors could contribute to victims feeling so much pressure to pay,” said Chester Wisniewski, director at Sophos.
Microsoft's investigation also uncovered state actors who have targeted educational institutions. For example, Iranian state actors such as Peach Sandstorm and Agency Sandstorm have been observed using social engineering attacks.
“The types of threats we're seeing, the types of events that are occurring in higher education, are much more aggressive from cyber adversaries,” said Davis McMorries, chief information security officer at Oregon State University.
In particular, around 15,000 emails with malicious QR codes reach the industry every day.