Late last year, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported that 647,000 American students were affected by ransomware attacks on K-12 schools in 2021. Attacks lasted anywhere between three days and three weeks, with recovery typically taking multiple months. In addition to the monetary costs, schools were often forced to close their doors or halt services for an extended period of time.
In August, a survey of school IT professionals by cybersecurity firm Sophos found that an astonishing 80 percent of schools across 14 nations – including the U.S. – had been the victims of ransomware attacks in 2022. K-12 education was the single most targeted industry, edging out higher education and surpassing other sectors such as construction, government, and healthcare.
