Universities and colleges are being warned of a rising number of cyber attacks that could threaten the start of term.
The alert from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) follows an investigation into a recent spate of attacks on colleges and universities around the country, including ransomware attacks that disrupted Newcastle and Northumbria universities at the start of September.
The NCSC is recommending that organisations implement a 'defence in depth' strategy to protect against the threat of malware. This approach recommends the use of a layered system of security measures with multiple defence mechanisms ready to step in if one is compromised.
Organisations are also being advised to implement an incident response plan, which should include a scenario for a ransomware attack that has been fully exercised.
"This criminal targeting of the education sector, particularly at such a challenging time, is utterly reprehensible," said Paul Chichester, director of operations at the NCSC.
"While these have been isolated incidents, I would strongly urge all academic institutions to take heed of our alert and put in place the steps we suggest, to help ensure young people are able to return to education undisrupted."
RELATED RESOURCE
2020 email security strategy guide
A people-centric approach to stopping malware, phishing, and email fraud
The NCSC's investigation began in August, shortly after cloud service provider Blackbaud notified its customers that it had been hit by ransomware, a clientele that is mostly made up of non-profit organisations and education providers. A number of universities and colleges were reported to have lost data in the attack.
At the start of September, Northumbria University was forced to cancel exams and shut down its clearing hotline after a cyber attack. This was swiftly followed by a similar incident at Newcastle University, which forced a number of online support services offline.
Ahead of the new academic year, with students returning to universities and colleges under social distancing measures, the NCSC has issued a set of security recommendations. These include an effective vulnerability management and patching procedure, the use of multi-factor authentication, the scrapping of scripting environments and macros, and the installation of antivirus software to prevent phishing.
-
Cleo attack victim list grows as Hertz confirms customer data stolen – and security experts say it won't be the lastNews Hertz has confirmed it suffered a data breach as a result of the Cleo zero-day vulnerability in late 2024, with the car rental giant warning that customer data was stolen.
-
‘Phishing kits are a force multiplier': Cheap cyber crime kits can be bought on the dark web for less than $25 – and experts warn it’s lowering the barrier of entry for amateur hackersNews Research from NordVPN shows phishing kits are now widely available on the dark web and via messaging apps like Telegram, and are often selling for less than $25.
-
Healthcare systems are rife with exploits — and ransomware gangs have noticedNews Nearly nine-in-ten healthcare organizations have medical devices that are vulnerable to exploits, and ransomware groups are taking notice.
-
Alleged LockBit developer extradited to the USNews A Russian-Israeli man has been extradited to the US amid accusations of being a key LockBit ransomware developer.
-
February was the worst month on record for ransomware attacks – and one threat group had a field dayNews February 2025 was the worst month on record for the number of ransomware attacks, according to new research from Bitdefender.
-
CISA issues warning over Medusa ransomware after 300 victims from critical sectors impactedNews The Medusa ransomware as a Service operation compromised twice as many organizations at the start of 2025 compared to 2024
-
Warning issued over prolific 'Ghost' ransomware groupNews The Ghost ransomware group is known to act fast and exploit vulnerabilities in public-facing appliances
-
The Zservers takedown is another big win for law enforcementNews LockBit has been dealt another blow by law enforcement after Dutch police took 127 of its servers offline
