Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

The Qilin ransomware gang has claimed attacks at Mecklenburg County Public Schools, stealing financial records and childrens’ medical files

Sophos found that average ransom demands and payments fell substantially in the education sector in 2025, as recovery time and costs fell

A ransomware attack on Mastery Schools, Philadelphia, has compromised personal information of 37,031 individuals, exposing sensitive data

West Lothian Council confirmed that ransomware attackers have stolen personal and sensitive information held on its education network

Highline Public Schools revealed that sensitive personal, financial and medical data was accessed by ransomware attackers during the September 2024 incident

Ransomware gangs are targeting schools and higher education, with victims facing soaring ransom and recovery costs

Ransomware attacks on US schools and colleges have surged, with 491 incidents since 2018, affecting over 8000 institutions

Maidstone’s St Augustine Academy is latest victim

Past and current staff and students are impacted

Reported ransomware attacks targeting municipalities, education and healthcare in 2023 has quadrupled compared with 2021

Extortionists know their targets have low tolerance for outages

At the time of writing, it is unclear whether the school paid the ransom

British schools were hit far more than those abroad

The district’s superintendent Elizabeth Hallett announced the decision in an email to parents

Number of government, education and healthcare incidents remains steady

In several cases, the group did not deploy ransomware and performed extortion using stolen data

Second-largest US school district compromised over the weekend

The Hive ransomware group claims it has home addresses, bank details, medical records and even students’ psychological reviews

Over half of lower education institutions were hit by ransomware in the past year

ICO's data revealed a signficant growth in ransomware attacks last year