British students have started having concerns about their personal information, as a cyberattack recently hit Lancaster University. According to representatives from the university, the hack was discovered on Friday last week, and all affected students and applicants have been informed.
According to the university administration, the personal identification and records of both students and applicants have been accessed and compromised. Unfortunately, whoever is behind the attack has started monetizing on the data. Lancaster University has received information that applicants, who are to enroll in the school this year, have been prompted to pay fake fees for non-existent services.
The authorities were informed about the hack immediately, as the hacked files consist of detailed information on students like their phones, names, and home addresses. The university’s records of past students have also be accessed, which means that the hackers can also see these students’ courses and respective grades.
Cyberattacks are the latest headache for school administration
According to recent reports, cyberattacks are becoming a common occurrence among schools all over the world. While administrators are doing their best to provide sufficient security of students’ personal information, hackers with malicious intents are progressively more creative.
What is more concerning, however, is the fact that offenders are caught very rarely, as it is tough to prove who accessed the files without permission. Often, hackers even demand ransom payments to delete the information they managed to obtain.
Because of such instances, many schools and higher education institutions have invested serious chunks of their budgets in making their online and administrative systems more secure. Personal information is very sensitive, and if the wrong people gain access to it, there might be severe consequences for people.
