The education sector is facing a crisis as schools grapple with high levels of risk exposure – driven in large part by complex IT environments and digitally savvy student populations – that have made them a prime target for cybercriminals and ransomware attackers, according to Absolute.

The summer months of 2019 saw the number of publicly-disclosed security incidents in K-12 school districts in the U.S. reach 160, exceeding the total number incidents reported in 2018 by 30 percent.