Ransomware attacks were until recently mainly experienced by larger businesses, but over the past two years in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, this has expanded to smaller organisations, local governments and the education sector.
This is a growing problem worldwide, leading to the security company Kaspersky recently publishing Ransomware, Schools and Parents, a study of parents’ attitudes and experiences with cyberattacks on American schools.
Increasingly parents are worrying that their children’s schools are not protecting their data well enough, and 75% of parents discuss online safety with their children.
29% of parents felt their children’s school was “not at all prepared for a ransomware attack”.
55% of parents said their school had been hit with a cyberattack during their child’s time there and 72% of parents reported that they would want their child’s school to pay a ransom.
A recent report on the state of ransomware in education by Sophos showed that the education sector is increasingly the target of cybercriminals with a global average 57% increase in the volume of cyber attacks.
With almost half of these schools paying the ransom, only 4% got all of their data back.
These figures reflect an overall poor level of cybersecurity awareness in schools and colleges and following two sixth form colleges in Bedfordshire being hit with a £500,000 ransom demand from a Russian ransomware gang threatening to leak personal information about their students the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) updated its guidance to education organisations.
Our expertise and years of experience in education means we can help schools of all sizes to make sense of all the guidance, and identify the vulnerabilities in their security so that we can work together to fix them.
Virtue Technologies have been at the forefront of protecting educational establishments from cyber crime for many years and our highly trained and knowledgeable team have created a portfolio of tailored cyber security solutions which significantly reduce the risk of these incidents occurring.
Review your school’s cyber security
Virtue Technologies’ Security Configuration Check provides assurance that your school or Trust’s IT, network and online systems are protected from any unauthorised access, minimising the risk of malicious activity.
We visit your school and supply a report with recommendations for how to fix or prevent issues with your current setup in an easy to read format, we will also provide expert technical advice, support and service at all times during the process.
The Virtue Cyber Security Review is set out against the key themes identified by the DfE and National Cyber Security Centre.
To organise your Security Configuration Check, or to discuss any other questions you have about cyber security, get in touch today. You can phone 01695 731 233 or email info@virtuetechnologies.co.uk or click here to get in touch.
