Universities and colleges are being warned by the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) that rising numbers of cyber-attacks are threatening to disrupt the start of term. The NCSC has been investigating an increased number of ransomware attacks affecting education establishments in the UK, including schools, colleges and universities.
According to Microsoft’s Global Threat Activity tracker, sixty one per cent (nearly 4.8 million)
of malware encounters reported within the past thirty days took aim at the education sector, making
it the most affected industry. The business and professional services sector came
in second with just under one million
incidents.
The warning from
the NCSC follows a spate of ransomware attacks against academic institutions –
in which malicious software or “malware” is used to lock out users
from their own computer systems, paralysing online services, websites and phone
networks.
”Often, the aim of
cyber criminals deploying ransomware is to encrypt data that will have the most
impact on an organisation’s services. This can affect access to computer
networks as well as services including telephone systems and websites,”
explains Juta Gurinaviciute, chief technology officer at NordVPN Teams.
A lack of dedicated
funding and skilled personnel made it hard for educational institutions to keep
data secure and improve privacy-related defences. Hence, many schools make
essential primary setup errors and put little effort into overseeing old
existing vulnerabilities. ”It comes as no surprise that, during the Covid-19
crisis, hackers and scammers found those vulnerabilities so easily,” says Ms.
Gurinaviciute.
As the last six
months have shown us, it has never been more important for colleges to have the
right digital infrastructure in order to be able to protect their systems.
According to NordVPN Teams’ chief technology officer: ”Systems have to be set up with adequate
authentication and controls. Otherwise, they can become vectors for
attack. Without proper implementation, tools to access school networks
remotely – even VPNs, password managers and remote desktop protocols – can all
be hacked to gain unauthorized access and steal sensitive data.”
Shifting to fully or
partly online learning for the second time this year means educational
institutions have to put extra effort in preparing their edtech. Cyber attack
trends make it clear that most university lecturers are not properly trained in
information communication technology or lack the knowledge to assist students
in cyber security. Although school districts have already learned the lesson
the hard way and have started trying to secure their data, their pace might
still be too slow. Millions of teachers and students make remote access
attempts from various devices again this fall, opening the door for
cybercriminals to act.
” As governments attempt to address the public health crisis around the
world and contain the spread of Covid-19, there is a very high chance that criminals will continue to exploit this chaos,
and that there will be another spike in cyber attacks against vulnerable
targets. Educational institutions should focus on protecting their open
networks and managing devices they don’t have control over,” concludes the NordVPN
Teams expert.
The NCSC has recently
updated its ransomware and malware guidance, which is generally applicable to organisations in all industries in
the UK. Additions to this include updated information on attackers’ modus
operandi and advice on preparing for an incident.