Over 2 lakh cyberattacks, 4 lakh data breaches hit Indian educational institutions in 9 months

Cyberattacks: Indian educational institutions suffered more than two lakh cyberattacks and nearly four lakh data breaches in just nine months, a pilot study has revealed.

The study, titled “Exploring Cyber Threats and Digital Risks to Indian Educational Institutions”, was conducted under CyberPeace Foundation’s flagship e-Kawach initiative in collaboration with DELNET, Resecurity and Autobot Infosec.

It was released on Wednesday along with the launch of the “Cyber First Responder” initiative, aimed at equipping students, faculty, librarians and staff with skills to counter cyber threats, deepfakes and misuse of artificial intelligence.

The nine-month study, conducted between July 2023 and April 2024, found more than 8,000 unique usernames and 54,000 unique passwords being used in brute-force attacks. Commonly targeted usernames included “root” and “admin”, while weak passwords, such as “123456” and “password”, were frequently attempted.

“Indian educational institutions are likely five times more vulnerable to data breaches than counterparts with stronger cyber practices,” the report warned, adding that breaches could lead to impersonation of faculty, phishing attacks, deepfake content, theft of sensitive research data and leakage of exam papers.

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Vice Chancellor of National Law University-Delhi Prof. (Dr) G S Bajpai said resilience in the digital era means transforming systems in response to a disruption.

DELNET director Dr Sangeeta Kaul called the Cyber First Responder initiative “a commitment to shaping, not just reacting to, change”, while CyberPeace Foundation founder and global president Vineet Kumar described the report as a “wake-up call” for academic institutions.

“Digitisation without cybersecurity is like building a house without doors or locks. Innovation cannot thrive without resilience,” Kumar said, adding that the programme aims to create a first line of defence against cyber threats and AI abuse in academia.