Recent Education Sector Cyber Attacks

CrowdStrike reports attackers increasingly bypass security tools by using trusted login paths, phone-based IT impersonation, and abuse of legitimate cloud and AI services. The report highlights real intrusions where vishing led to single sign-on takeovers and rapid data theft, and where attackers…

Researchers found counterfeit Open VSX extensions impersonating real developer tools. After installation, some of these extensions quietly “beaconed” to an attacker-controlled domain and sent details about the victim’s machine plus private repository and CI/CD identifiers. The listings tried to…

CrowdStrike reports multiple real-world campaigns where attackers used human manipulation to break into organizations, including LinkedIn outreach that led to a malicious link click and phone-based scams that pushed victims to fake sign-in pages. The report also describes attackers abusing stolen…

CrowdStrike’s threat hunting report says attackers are increasingly using phone-based impersonation and trusted login flows to break into cloud email and SaaS quickly. The report highlights vishing callers posing as IT support, pushing employees to sign in via attacker-controlled phishing pages,…

Cisco Talos reviewed real prompt logs recovered from suspected threat-actor systems and found that many AI safety guardrails fail when attackers reframe requests as “authorized” work. Common tactics included claiming ownership of the target server or saying the activity was for a capture‑the‑flag…

Cisco Talos reports criminals are bypassing safety controls in popular AI coding tools by splitting harmful work into small, seemingly harmless requests and by claiming they are authorized owners of the systems being targeted. The research is based on real prompt logs recovered from threat actor…

Microsoft and ReliaQuest report a real campaign where Russian-linked hackers compromised hotel Wi‑Fi networks and redirected travelers to fake Microsoft login pages or fake update screens. The goal was to steal Microsoft 365 credentials and/or trick victims into installing espionage malware,…

Attackers compromised hundreds of legitimate websites and injected code that sent visitors to a fake Cloudflare page. The fake page used a “ClickFix” trick to convince users to run steps that installed malware. The incident shows how criminals can use trusted brands and trusted sites as the…

A security researcher demonstrated that Microsoft Copilot for Word can be tricked by hidden text inside a Word document, causing Copilot to follow attacker instructions. The result is a self-propagating “AI worm” that silently modifies documents and embeds the same hidden prompt into new files,…

A state-sponsored campaign in South Korea used spear-phishing and hacked “trusted” local websites to infect visitors who had vulnerable AnySign4PC installed. In some cases, simply visiting a compromised page triggered the exploit and installed SIGNBT or COPPERHEDGE backdoors without any download…

Researchers tracked a large scam wave abusing interest in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, including fake merchandise stores, cloned ticket sites, and bogus “free streaming” pages. The most harmful scams used near-perfect ticket-site clones to steal login details, credit card data, and one-time passwords…

A sextortion email campaign is using real leaked email addresses from ShinyHunters-related data dumps to make threats sound credible. The scammers impersonate the “ShinyHunters hacking group,” claim they recorded victims via webcam, and demand $2,000 in Bitcoin within 48 hours. Reporting indicates…

Researchers report multiple real-world email phishing campaigns that used tax and government-benefit themes to trick people into downloading malware. The campaigns used a “crypter” service called Cruciferra to hide malicious files and help malware run while avoiding detection. Targets included…

ReliaQuest reports attackers are compromising public Wi‑Fi “captive portal” gateways (such as in hotels and conference centers) and changing their DNS settings to redirect users to attacker-controlled pages. The goal is to harvest traveling employees’ Microsoft 365 credentials using…

Researchers reported an ongoing campaign where attackers compromise hotel and conference venue Wi‑Fi routers and quietly redirect visitors’ web traffic through attacker-controlled systems. This can lead to corporate usernames and passwords being captured even when the victim does not click a…

A newly identified Russia-linked threat actor (“Laundry Bear”) is targeting Western organisations with a zero-click technique that can compromise Zimbra webmail simply by viewing a malicious email. The campaign has reportedly stolen sensitive data across multiple sectors and may evolve to target…

Government agencies say a Russian-linked group sent specially crafted HTML emails that exploit a Zimbra webmail flaw, so simply viewing the message can trigger data theft, no click required. The campaign has targeted multiple Western sectors since July 2025 and focuses on stealing email content and…

Investigators found evidence of a China-linked operation (tracked as JadeProx) targeting government, healthcare, and education organizations, including spear-phishing and a fake software download site. One campaign impersonated Anthropic’s Claude using a lookalike domain to deliver a malicious…

AhnLab reports real-world spear-phishing attacks by the Kimsuky group that impersonate diplomatic personnel and trick targets into opening disguised LNK “document” attachments. Opening the fake document launches scripts that install tools like the PebbleDash backdoor and PrxClient proxy, enabling…

German and international law enforcement disrupted the infrastructure behind “Kratos,” a phishing-as-a-service kit used at scale to steal Microsoft account logins. The kit provided convincing Microsoft-themed fake login pages designed to steal passwords and session cookies, which could help…