Cybersecurity should be part of every university’s strategy

Worsening ransomware threat demands an institution-wide response led from the top, says Henry Hughes

In the past few years, ransomware attacks have become the principal threat to the digital infrastructures and day-to-day business operations of UK education and research organisations. They accounted for at least 12 of the 16 major security incidents recorded in 2022, while there were 18 serious ransomware attacks across the sector in 2021 and 15 in 2020.

Last year, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) called ransomware “the most acute threat that businesses and organisations in the UK face”. The market for attack tools evolves rapidly, and Russia’s cyberattacks against Ukraine and its allies have heightened the threat.