Higher ed institutions are tempting targets for ransomware hackers because they hold not only personally identifiable information such as student and faculty data, but also valuable POS systems as well as lab and research data.
These types of attacks are surging, with criminals using more sophisticated means of infiltrating organizational networks. Once they’re in, hackers stealthily work through systems seeking vulnerabilities to exploit and further their access. The greater the volume of data they can lock down, and the more valuable it is, the higher the ransom they can demand.
And acquiescing to the hacker’s ultimatums doesn’t necessarily solve the problem. Despite paying a cyberattack ransom in August 2019, Regis University’s systems were still suffering for months afterward.