Cyber Security in Education: Celebrate the Holidays by Updating Your Cybersecurity Solutions and Ransomware Defenses

Sophos’ The State of Ransomware in Education 2023 should be an eye-opener if you’re an IT pro responsible for your organization’s cybersecurity solutions and data loss protection. The education sector reported the highest ransomware attack rates of all industries surveyed. The numbers are stark: 80 percent of lower education providers and 79 percent of higher education providers said they were hit by ransomware in 2023. 

The reports also found that recovery costs stayed at $1.59 million in lower education, while higher education dropped from $1.42 million in 2022 to just over $1 million in 2023. The takeaway is that higher education organizations are getting better at recovering from ransomware attacks and doing so at a lower cost. With the odds of a ransomware attack stacked against you and the costs high, the holidays are a perfect time to take stock of your current cybersecurity solutions and determine how to best protect your data against ransomware.

Start With Cyber Education

The Sophos report points out that one of the most common root causes of the most significant ransomware attacks is compromised credentials at 36 percent. That means hackers gain access to your systems using stolen usernames and passwords. And how do they get those usernames and passwords? A phishing attack is the most common, where a student or staff member clicks on a malicious link or opens a document infected with malware. The use of compromised credentials is another. 

Combatting these attack strategies requires what your organization already does best—teaching—and the subject is cybersecurity for education. Establish an ongoing program that informs your students and staff regarding the latest cybersecurity threats in education. Ensure everyone knows how to recognize potentially malicious threats and what to do if they encounter one. 

Use regular bulletins and alerts to keep awareness high. Test the effectiveness of your training using available tools for simulated phishing attacks. Monitor employee response and use the results for continuous program improvement.

Update Your Cybersecurity Technologies

With the costs of ransomware so high, using the latest technologies to prevent attacks is common sense. That’s why Arcserve solutions are secured by Sophos Intercept X Advanced for Server. This cybersecurity solution uses AI and deep learning to predict and prevent attacks.

The solution also features CryptoGuard, which monitors and constantly analyzes file writes for encrypted files, restores impacted files, stops malicious processes, protects document files from encryption, and detects and blocks ransomware attacks initiated remotely on endpoints. Included WipeGuard adds another defensive layer, with disk and boot record protection, mitigation of known exploits in vulnerable applications, malicious code injection, and more. 

Invest In Cost-Effective Unified Data Resilience

Regardless of whether you’re responsible for data protection for a large campus, district, or region, Arcserve Unified Data Protection (UDP), secured by Sophos, provides you with comprehensive data breach protection. The solution protects against data loss and extended downtime across your cloud, local, virtual, hyperconverged, and SaaS-based workloads. 

Arcserve UDP reduces downtime from days to minutes and validates your recovery point and recovery time objectives (RPOs/RTOs) and service-level agreements. Automated testing and granular reporting are also included. The software deploys in minutes and includes a multi-tenant or private management console, depending on your requirements.

You can protect Microsoft 365 workloads and restore faster with instant VM and bare metal recovery (BMR). You can also slash your data storage costs with the solution’s deep data reduction capabilities.

Get Expert Guidance

Arcserve technology partners offer the expertise and experience to ensure your organization’s data is protected and can always be recovered. They can help you establish your requirements, select the right solution, and ensure your defenses are always up to date.

Find an Arcserve technology partner here.

To learn more about Arcserve UDP, request a demo.