Sep 02, 2021 06:00:00

Ransomware damage to schools and educational institutions totaled $730 billion in 2020 alone

Ransomware has caused serious damage around the world, particularly in the United States, where it has begun to target not only governments and large corporations but also

companies and organizations directly linked to people's lives, such as food producers and medical institutions. The U.S. government has raised the threat level of ransomware to the same level as terrorism and is increasing its vigilance. A report analyzing ransomware attacks targeting American schools and universities found that educational institutions in the country suffered losses of $6.62 billion (approximately 730 billion yen) in 2020 alone.

Ransomware attacks on US schools and colleges cost $6.62bn in 2020 - Comparitech
https://www.comparitech.com/blog/information-security/school-ransomware-attacks/

Below is a map released by Comparitech, an American cybersecurity company, showing the number of ransomware attacks on schools and universities that occurred between 2018 and June 2021. The red circles represent the locations of school districts affected by ransomware, and the size of the circles represents the number of affected educational institutions.

Educational institutions in the southern and western United States were particularly hard hit in 2020. Below is a color-coded map of the number of ransomware attacks on schools and universities in 2020 by state. The state with the most attacks was Texas in the southern United States, with 10 ransomware attacks reported, accounting for 13% of the total. The second most affected state was California in the western United States, with 9 ransomware attacks.

According to Comparitech, it is estimated that more than 1,740 schools and universities were targeted by ransomware attacks in 2020, a 39% increase from 2019. The number of students affected by ransomware is estimated to have reached 1,358,035, a 67% increase from the previous year.

Ransomware damages ranged from $10,000 to $1 million, and while in some cases the damage was minimal due to diligent backups, in other cases it took months to recover. Overall, the average time that schools' systems were down after a ransomware attack was seven days, and the average time it took to recover was 55.4 days.

The ransom demanded by the hackers involved was at least $1,909,058 (approximately ¥210 million), and the direct and indirect damages suffered by educational institutions totaled an estimated $6.62 billion.

Comparitech summarized its findings, saying, 'Our research found that 222 ransomware attacks were carried out between January 2018 and June 2021 alone, affecting 3,880 schools and universities and nearly 3.04 million students studying there. Because ransomware attacks often take time to become public after the damage occurs, this number is expected to increase in the coming months.'

In addition, due to the high number of ransomware attacks reported around the Labor Day holiday in early September, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have issued a joint advisory urging public institutions, including schools, and private companies to be especially vigilant against cyberattacks.