Background
Education is one of the sectors most targeted by cyber attackers. Ransomware, phishing and supply chain attacks are the most common threats.
In 2024 to 2025, the education sector in the UK was one of the top 3 most attacked industries.
80+ education sector ransomware attacks were reported to the ICO in 2024.
- 52% of primary schools reported an incident
- 71% of secondary schools reported an incident
Of those attacks, phishing was involved in 92% of the primary schools and 89% of the secondary schools.
These figures are likely lower than reality. Many schools don’t have the monitoring tools to detect intrusions, and some incidents are unreported.