Check Point Software Technologies, a leading cybersecurity platform provider, has published its latest Threat Intelligence Report, highlighting an increase in cyberattacks on India’s education sector.
Over the past six months, India’s education sector experienced 8,195 attacks per week, more than double the global average of 3,355. Other heavily targeted industries include healthcare, which reported 7,982 weekly attacks per organization, followed by the government/military sector (4,590) and consulting sector (4,177).
The sharp rise in cyberattacks on India’s education is primarily attributed to the ongoing digitization and remote learning trends accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Educational institutions have increasingly become targets due to the vast amounts of sensitive student data they collect, including personal, academic, and financial information. This has expanded their digital footprints, making them vulnerable to data breaches. Cybercriminals are exploiting weak cybersecurity defenses to access personally identifiable information (PII), which is frequently sold on the Dark Web.
On average, Indian organizations faced 3,244 cyberattacks per week in the last six months, nearly double the global average of 1,657. The report identifies Fake Updates, Qbot, and Formbook as the most common malware in India. A significant portion of these attacks (54 percent) is delivered via email, with 58 percent of email-borne threats involving .exe files. Additionally, information disclosure vulnerabilities affected 70 percent of Indian organizations, further exposing critical data to cyber threats.
