Cyber Threats in Education Sectors Increased by 60% in H2 2020

Reports by Kaspersky suggested that the education sector continued to attract cyber criminals on the Internet, during the period of Covid-19. Reports say that 270,171 users faced various cyber threats disguised as popular learning platforms from July to December. This is an increase of 60% in comparison to the first half of the year.

During the first half of the year, the total encountered cases of threats in the form of online learning and conferencing platforms were 168,550. This was a huge increase of 20,455% as compared to the same period in 2019.

The reports suggest that Zoom was the most popular software to lure users, as it was one of the most used ones as well. Zoom was followed by Moodle and Google Meet. Google classroom threats remained the same as all other apps’ threats increased.

98% of the threats that were encountered were not a virus, which is divided into riskware and adware. Most threats were encountered by users as popular video-making apps and online course platforms through fake application installers.

With the world shifting to online means for education, cyber threats boomed as people paid less attention to the details and that eventually led to a humongous increase in online threats.