Cybersecurity ebook: Does your campus cybersecurity pass the test?
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In 2020, 44% of the world’s educational institutions were targeted by ransomware,1 with three US colleges hit by NetWalker attacks in a single week.2 In March 2021, the FBI issued a warning to US schools about the PYSA (Protect Your System Amigo) ransomware that eventually afflicted organizations across 12 states.3 In September 2021, Howard University lost two days of online teaching to an unnamed ransomware attack that took down the school’s Wi-Fi network and sent IT teams scrambling to restore data from backups.4
1 Government Technology, “Cybercriminals Use Pandemic to Attack Schools and Colleges,” September 20, 2021, https://www.govtech.com/education/k-12/cybercriminals-use-pandemic-to-attackschools-and-colleges
2 Infosecurity, “Ransomware Strikes Third US College in a Week,” June 8, 2020, https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ransomware-strikes-third-us/
3 Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cyber Division, “Increase in PYSA Ransomware Targeting Education Institutions,” March 16, 2021, https://www.ic3.gov/Media/News/2021/210316.pdf
4 Slate, “Howard University’s Devastating Ransomware Attack Can Teach Other Colleges a Valuable Lesson,” September 9, 2021, https://slate.com/technology/2021/09/howard-universityransomware-attack.html