Ransomware tracker: The latest figures [April 2023]

Note: this Ransomware Tracker is updated on the second Sunday of each month to stay current Ransomware attacks against schools shot up to one of its highest levels in years last month, putting an end to a recent slowdown. There were 22 school districts, colleges, and other educational institutions that fell victim to ransomware throughout March, which tied November 2022 as the highest number of such incidents recorded over nearly two years, according to data collected by Recorded Future. By comparison, there were just 14 victims in February and 17 victims in January. Several schools had to temporarily close after having their data locked up, including Northern Essex Community College in Massachusetts and Lansing Community College in Michigan. Lansing Community College, which serves about 19,000 students, was forced to cancel online classes and had its campus Wi-Fi cut off due to the incident. “Ransomware groups are settled in now and know they are not going to get arrested so they are much more brazen in their attacks,” said Allan Liska, a ransomware expert at Recorded Future who is involved in collecting data on the attacks. The March numbers, which are collected from extortion sites, government agencies, news reports, hacking forums, and other sources, do not include an incident that affected a handful of Louisiana colleges because school officials and law enforcement investigators have not said it is ransomware related. The University of New Orleans, the LSU Agricultural Center, Nunez Community College, River Parishes Community College and Southern University at Shreveport all took down their networks in late March after Louisiana State Police said they found “indicators of compromise.”

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