With the start of the education period, educational institutions come under the radar of cyber attackers. Educational institutions are being targeted by hackers because of the diversity in their operating systems, the surfeit of technological devices they have, the number of people using the same network, and the inadequacy of security measures. WatchGuard Turkey and Greece Country Manager Yusuf Evmez underlines that they also follow the educational agenda of hackers.

Research shows that the education sector is one of the sectors most affected by cyber attacks in recent times. 80 of the devices used in educational institutions are related to malware. Insecure password policies and many educational institutions that are inadequate in two-factor authentication are being targeted by hackers. Yusuf Evmez, a country manager for WatchGuard Turkey and Greece, notes that cybersecurity has grown in importance for educational institutions and argues that institutions should protect devices and the Internet from unauthorized persons for data security purposes.

Educational institutions on hackers’ radar

Attacks on educational institutions have increased significantly in recent years. Major cyber threats in educational institutions include attacks such as phishing, malware, ransomware and spam email. WatchGuard Turkey and Greece Country Manager Yusuf Evmez states that hackers generally use phishing attacks to penetrate the systems of educational institutions in 3 items.

1. Purpose of insufficient network configurations. The fact that educational institutions’ network security is not strong enough opens the door to cyber attacks on institutions. Therefore, network configurations in the education sector need to be strengthened.

2. Not using MFA causes phishing attacks. For hackers trying to fail security checks, devices that don’t have dual-factor identity protection make their job easier. It is necessary to use effective authentication solutions to prevent hackers from trying to access data using many social engineering techniques.

3. Using .edu email addresses for personal accounts poses a risk. Educational institution email addresses with the .edu extension compromise data security when used in personal accounts and in places such as e-commerce sites. Yusuf Evmez states that these addresses are vulnerable to cyber-attacks due to data leaks in areas where these addresses are used outside the institution, Yusuf Evmez says that educational institutions should be careful about cyber threats in the coming education period.