The term ‘Back-to-school’ is not only a source of anxiety for children returning from their summer break, but also for education officials who are facing more cybersecurity challenges than ever before. With yet another set of schools falling victim to ransomware, the weaknesses and shortcomings of the traditional cybersecurity tools that many organisations continue to rely on are becoming increasingly apparent. In this instance, all 10 schools in the Blackpool trust have been forced to revert to manual processes as a result of the attack.

Unfortunately education continues to top the ransomware leaderboard, with August showing a 12% increase over the previous month. There is an urgent need for government to invest in more advanced cybersecurity technologies within this sector, to keep pace with the rapidly evolving tactics used by attackers and to protect sensitive student data.