Digital Education: The cyberrisks of the online classroom

guest · Sep 4, 2020

Digital Education: The cyberrisks of the online classroom
September 4, 2020
https://securelist.com/digital-education-the-cyberrisks-of-the-online-classroom/98380/

This past spring, as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, online learning became the new norm as universities and classrooms around the world were forced to close their doors.

Shortly after schools began to transition to emergency remote learning, it became clear that many were not ready for the kind of full-time, digital education now needed.
What is more, many educational institutions did not have proper cybersecurity measures in place, putting online classrooms at increased risks of cyberattacks.

As fall approaches, digital learning will continue to be a necessity. In fact, half of all U.S. elementary and high school students will be entirely online.
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This report examines several different types of threats – phishing pages and emails related to online learning platforms and video conferencing applications, threats disguised under the names of these same applications, and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks affecting the education industry.

The more educational organizations rely on online resources to conduct their regular activities, the more of a target these networks become for cybercriminals looking to disrupt their operations.
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Looking forward
Online learning is not a short-term response to a global pandemic. It is here to stay.

Even when the pandemic does end, most agree that online learning will not disappear altogether. A recent global survey by Pearson Education, an academic publishing company, found that nearly 90% of the 7,000 individuals surveyed expect online learning to continue to play a role at all education levels.

In fact, even before the pandemic, some universities had already developed blending curricula (a mix of offline experiences and online courses). More and more academic institutions are considering this as an option for future programs.
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guest · Sep 4, 2020

DDoS Attacks on Virtual Education Rise 350%
September 4, 2020
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ddos-attacks-on-virtual-education/

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against online educational resources are over three times more prevalent in 2020 than they were last year, according to new research by Kaspersky.

The largest month on month increase was noted in January, when attacks were up by 550%.
Globally, the total number of DDoS attacks increased by 80% in the first quarter of 2020, compared to Q1 2019, with attacks on educational resources accounting for a large portion of that growth.
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Impacted platforms included Moodle, Zoom, edX, Coursera, Google Meet, Google Classroom, and Blackboard.
Educators also encountered a growing number of phishing pages and emails exploiting these educational online platforms in an attempt to get victims to download various threats.

“The ensuing increase in the popularity of online educational resources, coupled with this lack of preparedness, made the educational sector an ideal target for cyber-attacks. Moving forward this fall, as many schools and universities plan to conduct classes online—at least part of the time—it’s critical these organizations take steps to secure their digital learning environments.”
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guest · Sep 19, 2020

Analysis: Online Attacks Hit Education Sector Worldwide
September 18, 2020
https://www.databreachtoday.com/analysis-online-attacks-hit-education-sector-worldwide-a-15020

Check Point Research analysts have observed a significant rise in online attacks against the educational sector worldwide since July.

The U.S. faces a rise in distributed denial-of-service attacks, while Europe is seeing an increase in information disclosures attempts - many of them resulting from ransomware incidents, the researchers say. Meanwhile, in Asia, cybercriminals are taking advantage of vulnerabilities in the IT systems that support schools and universities to wage a variety of attacks.

"Distributed denial-of-service attacks are on the rise and a major cause of network downtime," the new Check Point report notes.
America Targeted
As of Aug. 18, 20 of the 25 largest U.S. school districts have moved entirely to online platforms for instruction, which equates to about 4.3 million students learning remotely, according to a report by Education Week.
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Check Point researchers found that, in the U.S., the average number of attacks against educational organizations increased 30% to 608 per week in August, compared to July. When all sectors are considered, attacks rose 6.5%.
Check Point says the average number of attacks against educational organizations was 793 per week in August, up 24% from the previous month, while the average increase across all sectors stood at about 9%.
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Malicious Activities Rising
A report released by security firm Kaspersky earlier this year noted DDoS attacks affecting educational resources between January and June were up 350% compared to the same period a year ago.
In a report earlier this month, Check Point found that, between May and August, suspected hackers registered over 35,000 domains with back-to-school themes, with 512 considered malicious and 3,400 tagged as suspicious.
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Check Point Not for higher education: cybercriminals target academic & research institutions across the world

July and August signals the start of the academic year for millions of students. However, because of the pandemic, back-to-school is different this year, with many students attending classes remotely from their homes. As previously reported, researchers at Check Point found that in the last 3 months, there was a surge in hacker interest in topics related to education, research and going back to school. Now that the new academic year has begun, we wanted to look deeper into the characteristics of these attacks.

Specifically, we looked into the USA, Europe and Asia. Overall, education & research in these geographies is proving to be an attractive sector for cybercriminals to target. Our data shows an increase in attacks, with different methods and tactics being adopted in different regions.
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guest · Oct 6, 2020

Cyber attack on server delays Mumbai university’s IDOL course exams
October 7, 2020
https://www.hindustantimes.com/mumb...ourse-exams/story-LQSsJwiw5w1F0gNgrpAtgM.html

For the second day in a row, exams for the distance education wing of the University of Mumbai had to be postponed. In a statement released by the Institute of Distance and Open Learning (IDOL), authorities explained that the technical glitches were a result of a cyberattack on the examination server.

It added that due to the trouble with the examination server, they have postponed the exams scheduled to take place on Wednesday as well.
In a statement released on Tuesday evening, examination authorities said the error was due to technical glitch.
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guest · Oct 10, 2020

Massachusetts Public School District Cancels Online Classes after Alleged Cyberattack
October 9, 2020
https://hotforsecurity.bitdefender....-classes-after-alleged-cyberattack-24295.html

More than 60 Springfield Public Schools shut down remote learning after a cyberattack affected the school district’s IT network on October 8.

Yesterday, the second-largest school district in Massachusetts, offering classes for over 25,000 students, announced the cancellation of virtual classes due to network systems issues.

“Due to issues with our network, school and remote learning activities are canceled for the remainder of today (Thursday, October 8),” Springfield Public Schools said in a tweet.
An additional update posted by school officials on Facebook, initially attributed the network issues to repeated power outages: [...]

According to Bleeping Computer, which cited a source in the cybersecurity industry, the network disruptions were due to a ransomware attack, discovered on the morning of October 8.
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Although officials have yet to disclose additional information on the attack, Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and Superintendent Daniel Warwick issued a comment on the security incident.

“Out of an abundance of caution the Springfield Public Schools have issued an early dismissal from school today and have temporarily suspended remote learning due to potential threats to the network that have been identified,“ the statement reads.
While it remains unclear if the cyberattack has been fully contained, the latest Springfield Public Schools post announced that remote learning will resume October 9.
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guest · Oct 17, 2020

Remote Learning for Sandwich Students Affected by Cyber Attack
October 14, 2020
https://www.capecod.com/newscenter/remote-learning-for-sandwich-students-affected-by-cyber-attack/

Remote learning for students in the Sandwich Public Schools District has been impacted by a cyber attack, according to Superintendent Pamela Gould.

In a message sent to families this week, Gould said that the problems, which were identified as a firewall failure, began on October 8.
The school district’s technology team installed a new firewall last weekend but it crashed on Sunday afternoon.

“The newly installed firewall identified this issue as a DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack,” Gould wrote in her message to parents.
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Sandwich is not the only school district dealing with the attacks.
According to Gould, Tyngsboro Public Schools have also been attacked and appears to point to a physical device being carried into on the district’s buildings each morning.
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guest · Oct 23, 2020

Virtual learning company admits releasing student data in bid to expand in Missouri
October 20, 2020
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local...cle_28126955-fb73-5a5e-9cc1-44f4cad3f4b4.html

A company offering virtual learning programs in Missouri “inadvertently” released student information as it worked the Capitol halls earlier this year in a bid to make it easier to expand its offerings.

With the pandemic forcing many school districts to offer online classes, Herndon, Virginia-based K12 is among the firms pressing lawmakers and state school officials to erase some of the regulatory hurdles they face in doing business in Missouri.

In doing so, however, K12 “committed a significant data breach,” according to emails obtained by the Post-Dispatch.

“The spreadsheet contains personally identifiable student information or individual student-level data of over 1,600 students, most of them from Missouri,” Neale said in the Aug. 20 letter.
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“Although the spreadsheets include the first name and last name of individuals, the names are not in combination with any of the other pieces of information required to meet the definition of ‘Personal Information,’” wrote attorney Stephen Goldman.
Nonetheless, Goldman said the company would notify each of the families included in the spreadsheet.

A second K12 attorney, former Republican House Speaker Catherine Hanaway, told the Post-Dispatch Tuesday that the release of the information was “inadvertent” and was contained on a spreadsheet page that some recipients may not even had known existed.
“They didn’t intend to send the additional information,” Hanaway said.
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The breach in Missouri is not the company’s first.
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guest · Nov 9, 2020

Authorities Investigate Possible Cyberattack on New Haven Middle School
November 10, 2020
https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news...berattack-on-new-haven-middle-school/2357632/

The New Haven Public Schools district is investigating a possible cyberattack on one of its middle schools.

At a press conference alongside city officials Monday, Superintendent Dr. Iline P. Tracey said it appears someone is hacking into students' Google accounts and sending inappropriate messages. The district is working with the police and FBI to determine the extent of the hack and how far the information spread.
The attack is related to the accounts being used with Google Classrooms technology, though it's not clear if the hack was directly related to online learning activity.

Some of the messages popped up during online learning, while others came through as emails sent to students, parents and teachers, officials said.
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guest · Dec 8, 2020

50 percent of schools did not prepare for secure distance learning, Labs report reveals
December 4, 2020
https://blog.malwarebytes.com/malwa...ools-unprepared-for-secure-distance-learning/

Education in the United States faced a crisis this year. The looming threat of the coronavirus—which spreads easily in highly-populated, enclosed rooms—forced schools across the country to develop new strategies for education.

Our full report, “Lessons in cybersecurity: How education coped in the shift to distance learning,” shows how schools across the United States are suffering, sometimes through inaction of their own.
Nearly half of all schools did not change anything about their cybersecurity preparations in transitioning to distance learning. The end result is that schools have faced a number of cybersecurity and IT issues that are dramatically increasing IT workload and putting undue strain on teachers’ lives.
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We conducted two, parallel surveys, the first of which targeted IT decision-makers at schools across the United States. The second survey targeted students enrolled in K–12; students working on obtaining a bachelor’s degree, associate’s degree, or attending trade school; and students enrolled in any post-graduate program.
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Victor Stoica · Oct 5, 2021

mood said: ↑

Digital Education: The cyberrisks of the online classroom
September 4, 2020
https://securelist.com/digital-education-the-cyberrisks-of-the-online-classroom/98380/
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As an academic interested in cybersecurity I would be interested to see what mechanisms to universities use in order to prevent and mitigate cyberattacks?

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