Episode 2: The Threat Landscape

Educational institutions are prime targets for cybercriminals due to the vast amount of sensitive data they handle, including student records, financial information, and research data.

According to recent reports, there has been a significant increase in phishing attacks, ransomware, and malware targeting educational institutions.

1. Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024: According to the UK Government's Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024, 71% of secondary schools, 86% of further education colleges, and 97% of higher education institutions identified a cyber security breach or attack in the past year. Higher education institutions were particularly affected by phishing attacks (100%), impersonation attacks (90%), and viruses or other malware (77%).
2. Cyber Signals Report: According to Microsoft Threat Intelligence, the education sector in the UK is the third-most targeted industry, with universities experiencing an average of 2,507 cyberattack attempts per week. These attacks include malware, phishing, and IoT vulnerabilities.

In this episode our team discuss the impact of these attacks and how they specifically impact the education sector. We cover questions such as

What’s a typical ransom in the education sector?

How can schools avoid their data being encrypted?

What are best practices for enhancing email security in education

How to balance proactive and reactive strategies; it's not just about protect and detect, but also how you respond and recover.

You will learn how the threat landscape is changing, how cyber criminals exploit vulnerabilities in this sector, how AI is impacting the landscape and how to be proactive in your approach to cyber security.

Conclusion: The email threat landscape in the education sector is constantly evolving, with cybercriminals employing increasingly sophisticated techniques to target educational institutions. By staying informed about the latest trends and adopting advanced email security solutions, educational institutions can protect their sensitive data and ensure a secure learning environment.

In our next episode we’ll be discussing the importance of integration and how shared telemetry can enhance your security posture. We look forward to you joining us.