Nearly Half Of Schools In A Ransomware Attack Paid To Have Data Restored

A 2023 worldwide survey of elementary and secondary schools in 14 countries found that 80% reported a ransomware attack, up from 56% in 2022. The percentage of attacks where hackers encrypted data rose 9% year-over-year, from 72% in 2022 to 81% in 2023. About 47% of the attacked schools paid the requested ransom to have data restored, and recovery costs following a ransomware attack soared, averaging $2.18 million.

In higher education, 79% of institutions surveyed in the same 14 countries said that they experienced a ransomware attack, up from 64% the previous year. The reported data encryption . . .