Education Cybersecurity Statistics

Two-thirds of school IT leaders worldwide rated their cybersecurity maturity as moderate.

74% of schools lack a dedicated cybersecurity specialist in 2025

89% of schools experienced at least one cyber incident in the past year, primarily phishing, unauthorized access, and malware.

92% of school IT leaders expect AI-powered phishing to be the most dangerous threat in the coming year

Nearly 40% of schools feel underprepared for ransomware in 2025

High confidence in cybersecurity among school IT leaders dropped from 30% in 2024 to 18% in 2025

45% of SMBs cite employee negligence as their biggest cybersecurity concern, particularly acute in the education sector.

Half of school IT leaders view ransomware as a serious threat to learning continuity in 2025

In October 2025, the education industry ranked third highest in proxy/filter-avoidance requests.

There was a 295% increase on November 8, 2025, in domains containing the term 'roblox'.

In school networks, traffic to proxy and filter avoidance categories increased by 83% on November 9, 2025, compared to the previous 12-month average.

Malicious gaming-related domains rose by 462% on September 22, 2025, compared to the previous 12-month average.

50% of higher education institutions are monitoring transactions in real-time to combat fraud.

35% of campus leaders say fraudulent enrollments are rising.

28% of campus leaders say physical and digital security still operate in silos on their campus.

71% of campus leaders say outdated security technology puts student safety at risk.

71% of higher education institutions demonstrate confidence, saying their school is prepared for a major cyber incident.

37% of campus leaders say fraudulent enrollments are declining.

38% of companies are focusing more on employee cyber education.

51.02% of education organizations reported limited visibility into their entire environment.

49% of AI users in education engage with AI daily.

52% of employees in the education industry have received training on AI safety and data security.

13% of employees in education reported no training in AI tools.

Only 48% of Education professionals report daily use of AI.

59% of Education professionals are very confident in their AI skills.

41% of schools report they have already experienced AI-related cyber incidents.

1% of education institutions ban AI tools entirely for faculty and staff.

20% of education institutions reported that they haven’t experienced AI-generated phishing attempts or misinformation campaigns.

66% of education leaders are aware of privacy concerns as an AI cybersecurity risk.

Awareness of potential AI-related cybersecurity risks is reassuringly high (83%) among education leaders.