"Record Number of Cyber-Incidents Hit US Schools in 2020"

Security researchers discovered that publicly disclosed cybersecurity incidents at US schools surged 18% over the past year.  There were 408 cyberattacks that affected schools in 2020, which equates to more than two schools affected by cyberattacks each day.  Of the publicly disclosed cybersecurity incidents, the largest number (45%) were recorded as unattributed malware, class and meeting invasions, email invasion, website, and social media defacement.  Over a third (36%) were data breach incidents, 12% were ransomware-related, and the rest were recorded as DDoS (5%) or phishing (2%).  The researchers blamed the rise of cyberattacks due to the rapid shift to remote learning. Many of the cyberattacks were significant: resulting in school closures, millions of dollars of stolen taxpayer dollars, and student data breaches directly linked to identity theft and credit fraud.

Infosecurity reports: "Record Number of Cyber-Incidents Hit US Schools in 2020"