For months, ransomware attacks have debilitated research at the British Library in London and Berlin’s natural history museum. They show how vulnerable scientific and educational institutions are to this kind of crime.

In one study, researchers analysed 58 cyberattacks between 1988 and 2022 on universities, schools and other organizations worldwide, and found that the frequency of attacks had increased since 2015 (H. Singh Lallie et al. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.07755; 2023). Information on the attacks was gleaned from publicly available online sources, such as media reports and the institutions’ own websites. The scientists concluded that research and education data are “a prime target for cyber criminals”. The study suggests that ransomware attacks — which permanently block access to data or systems until money is paid — were the most common form of cyberattack from an external source. Within an institution, students hacking the system to alter their grades were most often the cause.