"Remember, threat actors do not take a summer break," says James Turgal, Optiv's vice president of cyber risk, strategy and board relations. "Security is a one-time event but a continuous and evolutionary practice."
"Data breaches have become all too common for public agencies and private businesses alike, and we recognize the impact they can have on individuals," said Matt Smith, interim superintendent of DMPS.
Three years after its release, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency updated its #StopRansomware guide as ransomware and double extortion continue to impact K12 schools.
As cybercriminals continue to create headaches for K12 school districts, security leaders across different sectors, including education, say there are four prominent tactics used by threat actors to look out for.
Recent analyses reveal hundreds of incidents across 42 states and the District of Columbia, shedding light on the recent terror targeting K12 institutions.
September 2022 was the first wake-up call for district leaders after Los Angeles Unified fell victim to a ransomware attack. As cybercriminals continue to attack schools, lawmakers hope to see change.
District Administration even went so far as to ask ChatGPT to write a "believable" phishing email targeting a school. Needless to say, the program didn't hesitate.
If your school is in Wyoming, you might be safe—or at least a little safer—from education cyberattacks that have compromised 32 million records over the last two decades.
School districts and universities remain one of the best targets for cyberattacks. Although they've always been vulnerable, educational institutions became even more so during 2020, when most of them moved to remote learning, and most university infrastructures weren't ready to do so.
