Universities can make juicy targets for attackers of all stripes: state-tied advanced persistent threat (APT) groups that want intellectual property (IP), criminals that want money, even the students themselves who might be looking to cause trouble. They all pose a potential threat.
Last year 76 universities located across the world were attacked by hackers reportedly linked to Iran. In 2016 the University of Calgary was forced to pay $20,000 after a ransomware attack. In 2017 a group of students used a network of campus vending machines and light sensors to overwhelm their institution’s network.
Despite the range of threat actors, many university networks remain vulnerable.
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