The UK education sector is facing an increasingly hostile cyber threat landscape, it’s claimed, as schools, colleges and universities alike become targets for ransomware groups and other malicious actors.
Education meanwhile relies on digital, for learning, safeguarding, administration and communications. A cyberattack can disable IT systems, stopping teaching; phone lines, email, learning platforms and internal management systems can be taken offline. Schools hit by ransomware and other attacks have reported lost access to coursework, safeguarding records and financial systems, as well as concerns around potential data exposure. In many cases, recovery has been slowed by inadequate backup arrangements, unclear incident response plans or a lack of visibility into critical systems and risks.
Matthew Davies, CPO at SureCloud says: “Cyber incidents in education rarely fail because of one single technical issue, they escalate because organisations have not fully understood their risks or prepared for disruption.
“Schools need to know which systems are critical, ensure secure and tested backups are in place, and have a clear incident response plan that staff understand and can act on quickly. Regular patching, monitoring and cyber awareness training are just as important, because most attacks still begin with a simple phishing email. The difference between a short disruption and weeks of downtime often comes down to preparation.
“This for many seems like an almost impossible task. Budgets are low, internal teams are often small and do not have the specific skills needed and against a backdrop of an increasingly sophisticated cybercriminal, some education establishments are keeping the heads firmly in the sand.
“However, without a more proactive approach to cyber risk management, education providers will continue to face prolonged outages, rising recovery costs and growing pressure from regulators and parents alike. As attacks increase in scale and sophistication, the focus is shifting from whether an incident will occur to how well institutions are prepared to respond and recover.”
