3 in 4 Education Institutions Have Uncovered a Cyber Attack on Their Infrastructure in the Past Year

Seventy-seven percent of institutions across K-12 and higher education have identified a cyber attack on their infrastructure within the past 12 months, according to a new survey from cybersecurity company Netwrix. That represents a significant increase from 2023, when 69% of education organizations reported the same.

For its 2024 Hybrid Security Trends Report, Netwrix surveyed 1,309 IT and security professionals from a variety of industry sectors in 104 countries, to find out about their IT infrastructure, security challenges, and more. Education-specific survey results were released in a separate report, "Additional Findings for the Education Sector."

The most common attack vectors in education were phishing, user account compromise, and ransomware or other malware, the report found. Of the institutions that experienced a security incident, 47% reported facing unplanned expenses to fix security gaps, while 42% said they experienced no impact. Other cyber attack consequences included compliance fines (cited by 14% of respondents), change in senior leadership (11%), loss of competitive edge (11%), and lawsuits (10%).

Respondents were also asked about their biggest data security challenges. Fifty-one percent pointed to a lack of budget for data security initiatives; 47% said mistakes or negligence by business users; and 45% said an understaffed IT/security team.

"While educational institutions may have the same complexity as large organizations, they typically lack matching budgets and resources to deal with their dynamic environments," commented Ilia Sotnikov, security strategist at Netwrix, in the report. "It is crucial for the IT security teams in the education sector to have processes and tools in place to govern the identities, audit their activity, and monitor for any abnormal or malicious behavior."

For the full report, visit the Netwrix site here.

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • elementary school boy using a laptop with a glowing digital brain above his head and circuit lines extending outward

    The Brain Drain: How Overreliance on AI May Erode Creativity and Critical Thinking

    Just as sedentary lifestyles have reshaped our physical health, our dependence on AI, algorithms, and digital tools is reshaping how we think, and the effects aren't always positive.

  • robot brain with various technology and business icons

    Google Cloud Study: Early Agentic AI Adopters See Better ROI

    Google Cloud has released its second annual ROI of AI study, finding that 52% of enterprise organizations now deploy AI agents in production environments. The comprehensive survey of 3,466 senior leaders across 24 countries highlights the emergence of a distinct group of "agentic AI early adopters" who are achieving measurably higher returns on their AI investments.

  • tutor and student working together at a laptop

    You've Paid for Tutoring. Here's How to Make Sure It Works.

    As districts and states nationwide invest in tutoring, it remains one of the best tools in our educational toolkit, yielding positive impacts on student learning at scale. But to maximize return on investment, both financially and academically, we must focus on improving implementation.

  • blue and green network lines

    HPE Intros Agentic AI Enhancements to Mist Platform

    HPE recently introduced new capabilities for its Juniper Mist platform that leverage agentic AI to enable more autonomous, intelligent, and proactive network operations.