Research from Abnormal Security shows increased cybercrime activity in the educational sector, coinciding with the oncoming academic year. The data reveals more than 650,000 records across various educational institutions have been exposed in the last 60 days.
The research describes key cyber incidents occurring throughout June and July:
- June 13: Data breach exposes the information of data of 46,169 university students in the United States.
- June 13: 576,735 elementary school teachers’ records were exposed.
- July 10: 27,000 records (including stent and staff information) were posted online.
- July 19: A $200 million IT system was breached, affecting 25,000 individuals.
According to the research, the primary threat vector is phishing. Within the breaches noted, emails were a common target. As educational institutions begin a new academic year, remaining vigilant against potential mail threats is encouraged.
