Education Targeted Ransomware

A growing number of ransomware attacks have put how vulnerable K-12 schools and other educational institutions are into the spotlight. These institutes are particularly vulnerable to ransomware because they need to support remote and hybrid learning, which has dramatically increased the attack surface of their networks.

Coupled with budget and resource constraints on their IT operations, these institutions have become, as recently highlighted by federal agencies, a prime target for hackers.

Experiencing an active cyberattack?

If your school or educational institution is currently under attack, Emergency Incident Response can help immediately, whether you’re a Sophos customer or not.

Delivered by an expert team of incident responders, Sophos Emergency Incident Response provides lightning-fast assistance, identifying and neutralizing active threats against organizations. Onboarding starts within hours, and most customers are triaged within 48 hours. Emergency Incident Response is an industry-first, fixed-fee remote incident response service that identifies and neutralizes active cybersecurity attacks throughout its entire 45-day term of engagement.

Get Immediate Help

As you know I am a Sophos evangelist. I believe in Intercept X because it helps meet my cyber security obligations in a cost effective way and allows time outside my \"9 to 5\" job to do social work we are called to do for the people of Brooklyn and Queens.

Gus Garcia

Security and Information Officer, Diocese of Brooklyn

The ability of Sophos endpoint security to communicate directly with the firewall is great because it can look at root cause analysis of a threat and see what came in, where it came from, and how it works. Synchronized Security has saved us a lot of time, money, and heartache—and it’s gratifying to know that things are working together so seamlessly.

Corry Costle

Computer Tech, Washakie County School District 1

Remote learning: Top five cybersecurity risks for education

This article outlines and provides practical guidance to mitigating the most critical cybersecurity risks to educational institutes.

Other resources

Home Schooling – How to Stay Secure

Network Security for Education Institutions

MTR Casebook: Blocking a $15 million Maze ransomware attack

Incident Response Guide

Four Key Tips From Incident Response Experts

Endpoint Protection Best Practices to Block Ransomware

Firewall Best Practices to Block Ransomware

They’re back: inside a new Ryuk ransomware attack