Study: Cyberattacks Against US Education Sector Is on the Rise

Cyberattacks at educational facilities have spiked in recent months, according to new research. A study from Check Point Research finds that between January and July 2025, there was a 41% year-on-year (YoY) increase in illicit cyber activity.

Looking at countries across APAC, Africa, Europe, Latin and North America, the study finds that institutions in the US recorded a 67% YoY increase in cyberattacks — the steepest rise across all countries surveyed. At the same time, it consolidates the education sector’s position as the most attacked across the globe.

Cybersecurity is one of the biggest issues in the business world today. Recently, it was revealed that 78% of companies had been targeted with ransomware in the last year. Successful breaches can be catastrophic, with multiple high-profile businesses paying a high price for failing to deter attacks in recent years.

Cyberattacks Spike As Students Return to School

With school and college terms starting up again, educational institutions around the world have borne witness to a huge spike in attempted cyberattacks. According to new research from Check Point Research, between January and July 2025, the sector averaged 4,356 attacks per organization each week, comprising a 41% YoY increase.

The hardest hit region is APAC, which averaged 7,869 attacks per organization, per week. North America came in at fifth place, with a 67% increase in attacks YoY — the largest yearly increase across every region surveyed.

Check Point Research used its ThreatCloud AI platform to gather the insights, which analyzes millions of indicators of compromise (IoC) daily to build up a picture of the global cyberthreat landscape.

Education Leads Worst Hit Industries Worldwide

The data finds that education is by far the worst affected industry across the world when it comes to cyberattacks. In second place is government, which records 2,716 attacks per organization, per week on average. After that, it’s telecommunications (2,636 per organization, per week) and healthcare and medical (2,468 per organization, per week).

It is not a surprise that education has become such a target in recent years. In the post-pandemic era, it has come to be defined by a huge dependence on online platforms, with login credentials and public networks proving tantalizing attack vectors for a cybercriminals.

Not only this, but educational facilities tend to have limited cybersecurity budgets, meaning that their infrastructure is easy to bypass and students and faculty are often not well-versed in how to identify different breaches.

Cybersecurity Is A Thorn in the Business World’s Side

Eagle-eyed observers will not be surprised by the new data. Cybersecurity has emerged as one of the most urgent concerns of the business world in recent times. Seemingly every week, a major global company suffers a wide-ranging cyberattack, the consequences of which are often severe.

With the rapid development of AI, these attacks are getting harder to detect and harder to stop. Nonetheless, companies are not doing enough to insulate themselves from harm.

Businesses should be increasing their cybersecurity budgets, as well as investing in new talent and upskilling their existing employees to spot different threats. According to our own research, a shocking 98% of bosses can’t identify all the signs of a phishing attack, indicating that this is a problem endemic across the workplace.

Without serious action to avert the crisis, companies will continue to fall victim to scams, which are becoming increasingly sophisticated in nature. At this point in time, the outlook for the future is pretty bleak.