Lincoln College President David Gerlach recently announced that the 157 year old institution will be closing its doors due to enrollment stresses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and a major ransomware attack that occurred during a critical enrollment period in December 2021.

Clearly colleges, many cash strapped like Lincoln, aren’t goldmines. So why are cyber attackers targeting the education sector so relentlessly?

Part of what makes schools attractive targets is the troves of unique and sensitive data they possess. As Edward Vasko, director at the Boise State Institute for Pervasive Cybersecurity, explained via email:

“The data captured and stored by schools includes not only personally identifiable information (PII) of students, faculty and staff, but also PII of parents, donors and other partners of the school. This treasure trove of data, if captured and held for ransom, can easily bring an institution to its knees.”

Read the full story at https://threatpost.com/ransomware-deathblow-college/179574/