Strengthen Your School Cybersecurity to Prevent Ransomware Attacks
Gain the ultimate protection against malware with the trusted Google Workspace for Education management tool.
What is a Ransomware Attack?
Ransomware is a type of malware that holds a user or organization’s data hostage. The perpetrator demands a ransom payment to unlock access to the files.
Ransomware attacks in schools exploit vulnerabilities in systems, people, and devices to infect software. They can cause a range of damage, including student personal data breaches and disruptions to the school system.
105%
Increased ransomware attacks in K12 and higher education in 2023 (265 attacks) compared to 2022 (129).
$53b
6.7m
82%
K-12 schools in US experienced a cyber threat between July 2023 and December 2024.
3 days-
3 weeks
Why Do Hackers Attack School Networks?
Valuable School Data
Vulnerable System
Low-Budget Cybersecurity
How Do Ransomware Attacks Impact Schools?
A cybersecurity breach can affect not only a single device or a user but can spread across the entire school network. Depending on the scale and type, it may cause short- and long-term damages and affect the safety and wellness of every student.
Sensitive Data Loss
Financial Costs
Recovering school infrastructure (software, devices, etc.) affected by a ransomware attack usually costs money and additional working hours for the IT team. Sensitive data breaches may cause greater financial, personal, and reputation damage.
Disrupted Learning
Cyber attacks interfere with e-learning and other activities that require access to the school network. Before the attack is mitigated, students may miss classes, and teachers may lose access to their teaching resources, assessments, and assignments.
Secure Permission Management
Manage and keep updated individual user access permissions to data stored in the school domain to minimize the risk of leaking.
Updated Backups
Ensure backups of essential school data and systems on an external offline drive or another vendor’s cloud. Review and test them to keep them current.
Cybersecurity Awareness Training
Encourage students and teachers to engage in early cyber risk detection. Raise their skills and knowledge of cybersecurity threats.
Cyber Incident
Response Plan
Establish procedures to detect and manage cyber incidents and efficiently reduce the damage they cause in the school.
Strong Password Policy
Require from students and teachers complex, unique passwords, which don’t include known and personal data, and change them regularly.
Multi-Factor Authentication System
Force two or three-factor authentication, which includes a password and an additional layer of security such as a biometric or a phone code.
Updated Software
Avoid using unsupported or end-of-life software. Scan your systems and conduct security assessments regularly to detect vulnerabilities early.
Real-Time Risk Monitoring
Set automated notifications of suspicious activity in the domain, like unusual user behavior, file sharing, password changes, etc.
Your School Ransomware Defense Toolkit
Get Your Free Guide to Creating Cyber Incident Response Plan for K-12 Admins
Get Your Free Guide to Creating Cyber Incident Response Plan for K-12 Admins
Stay Ahead of Cyber Threats: Risk Monitoring
Cybercriminals are constantly scanning school networks for the weakest link. Your school can be their next target. Anticipate their attempts and monitor cyber risks in real-time. Early risk detection prevents a cyber incident from occurring and reduces possible damage.
Monitor your school system, user activity, and devices at all times. Any suspicious activity in your domain can be an early warning that a bad actor wants to compromise your cybersecurity.
Only a highly efficient, advanced tool can guarantee granular monitoring of every user activity on every site and at every moment. Such a tool supports the admin’s efforts in detailed Classroom monitoring, content, and web filtering.
How Does GAT Suite for Education Safeguard Against Ransomware?
GAT Labs offers school admins a highly capable toolset to monitor Google Workspace for the Education domain. GAT Suite for Education delivers seamless management, in-depth auditing, and cybersecurity protection for all users and devices in your school’s Chrome-based cloud.
GAT Shield, our live cyber risk detection tool, is a unique solution offering in-browser 3FA for Chrome users. It’s the most secure real-time app for Data Loss Prevention in the education market.
It allows admins to:
– Live detection of suspicious user activity
– Customized real-time alerting based on your own rules
– Site blacklisting for given users and web filtering
– Live Chrome browser monitoring and reporting
– Keyword search across the school domain
Reinforce Your School Cybersecurity Now
We have been selected as a winner in the Secondary Education category for the Award of Excellence:
Best of 2023 at the Tech & Learning Awards.
- What are the most common vectors or entry points for ransomware attacks in school environments?
- What preventative cybersecurity measures should schools have in place to avoid ransomware incidents?
- How can regular backups and recovery strategies reduce the impact of a ransomware attack?
- What role do staff training and awareness play in preventing ransomware attacks?
- How should schools monitor and manage external devices, third-party apps, and network access to reduce risk?
- What incident response steps should be planned in case of a successful ransomware breach?