The education sector is facing a crisis as schools grapple with high levels of risk exposure – driven in large part by complex IT environments and digitally savvy student populations – that have made them a prime target for cybercriminals and ransomware attackers, according to Absolute.
The summer months of 2019 saw the number of publicly-disclosed security incidents in K-12 school districts in the U.S. reach 160, exceeding the total number of incidents reported in 2018 by 30 percent.
In July alone, school districts in New Mexico, Nevada, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Alabama, Connecticut, and New York fell victim to cyber-attacks. Schools are now the second-largest pool of ransomware victims, just behind local governments and followed by healthcare organizations.
