by Lee Carass

The UK’s higher education sector is one of the country’s most prized assets. Its universities are among the world’s leading academic institutions and also play a major role in creating the skills, research and IP needed to drive the economy forward. But as major hubs of people and sensitive data, universities also represent a major target for attackers. 

Whether they’re aimed at causing damaging ransomware-related outages, tricking finance teams into wiring funds abroad, stealing staff and student data, or lifting sensitive research, these cyber-threats represent a serious financial and reputational risk to the sector. In a new era of COVID-19, where many universities will be expecting significantly reduced student numbers and income, there’s more pressure than ever to keep such threats at bay.