Earlier this year three UK universities were hit by a cyber attack that paralyzed campus IT systems forcing students and staff to work from home. Reports linked the suspected distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks at the University of Cambridge, the University of Manchester, and the University of Wolverhampton to Anonymous Sudan — a group protesting about events in the Middle East.
This was not an isolated incident. In 2023, data belonging to the University of the West of Scotland was ‘put up for auction by an extortion cybergang’ after a reported breach. While the motives behind both attacks may be different, the damage to the UK’s universities is immeasurable. And while there’s never a good time to be hit by a cyber attack, there are times when it can be catastrophic.
