Universities Targeted With Ransomware

Uploaded on 2023-02-21 in NEWS-News Analysis, JOBS-Education & Training, FREE TO VIEW, TECHNOLOGY--Hackers

Cyber criminals are willing to target schools and universities which store sensitive personal information linked to children and young adults, proving that these attackers don’t stop at anything if it succeeds in getting them the money they seek to extort.

Now, it emerges that two universities - the Munster Technology University (MTU) in Ireland and Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology - have both been subjected to ransomware attacks and according to sources, Technion was hit by a criminal group known as DarkBit.

MTU has said that data stolen in a recent cyber attack has been made available on the Dark Web, but it is still planning to open classes and will operate online with existing schedules. Students and staff at its Cork campuses have been advised to check their email accounts and campus notice boards on a regular basis for details of return-to-campus guidance and updates.

The cyber attack on MTU's IT system which has only recently been detected, is believed to have been carried out by individuals in a ransomware group known as ALPHV also known as BlackCat or Noberus.

According to research carried out by threat analysts at SonicWall there was a 51% increase in ransomware attacks within the education sector in 2022. They predicted the education sector to be among the most targeted by cyber criminals in 2023. This is certainly proving to be true so far.

Other findings from SonicWall include:

A 110% increase in IOT/smart devices malware, attacking schools and universities relying on access cards, CCTV and remote learning as they adjust to hybrid learning

A 42% increase in encrypted threats as bad actors tempt students to click on ‘dangerous’ links

A 22% increase in harmful malware in the education sector alone, which is much higher than the 3% average.

SonicWall's VP Channel Sales EMEA Spencer Starkey commented "The education and healthcare markets will be among the most targeted by cyber criminals in 2023. Both will be increasingly the subject of cyber attacks, including post-perimeter security on endpoint protection, identity information, and cloud access... Furthermore, both these industries are increasing their Internet of Things (IOT) footprint which will make them more susceptible to digital attacks."

SonicWall: ITPro: Irish Times: Irish Examiner: Bleeping Computer: Computing: Indpendent.ie:

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