Wednesday, May 21, 2025
HomeComputer SecurityEthical Hackers Cracked the Universities Cyber Defenses Within Two Hours

Ethical Hackers Cracked the Universities Cyber Defenses Within Two Hours

Published on

SIEM as a Service

Follow Us on Google News

A test carried out by ethical hackers against the cyber defenses of 50 universities found that they can cripple the defense and exfiltrate sensitive data within two hours.

The penetration testing conducted ethical hackers” working for Jisc, who provides internet services for universities in the UK. They stimulated attack on universities and them able to access the personal data, finance systems, and research networks.

They are able to reach student and staff personal information, override financial systems and access research databases within two hours and in some cases within an hour.

- Advertisement - Google News

In the test attack, they used the spear-phishing technique to drop malware into their system through a phishing email.

John Chapman, head of Jisc’s security operations center told that “we are not confident that all UK universities are equipped with adequate cyber-security knowledge, skills and investment”, told BBC.

Universities and colleges are among the risk group that is mostly affected by the frequent cyber attacks, the attackers may be members of the university staff or students.

The universities and colleges hold a lot of information regarding intellectual property and various researches which may be interesting from the commercial point of view.

Cyber attacks are done for different reasons and in the end, there are different benefits.

UK universities and research centers reported more than 1,000 attempts last year to steal data or disrupt services.

The attacks on universities are often linked to the academic calendar of the educational institutions so that their consequences can bring real damage.

You can follow us on LinkedinTwitterFacebook for daily Cybersecurity updates also you can take the Best Cybersecurity courses online to keep your self-updated.

Gurubaran
Gurubaran
Gurubaran is a co-founder of Cyber Security News and GBHackers On Security. He has 10+ years of experience as a Security Consultant, Editor, and Analyst in cybersecurity, technology, and communications.

Latest articles

Hackers Target Mobile Users Using PWA JavaScript to Bypass Browser Security

A sophisticated new injection campaign has been uncovered, targeting mobile users through malicious third-party...

Docker Zombie Malware Infects Containers for Crypto Mining and Self-Replication

A novel malware campaign targeting containerized infrastructures has emerged, exploiting insecurely exposed Docker APIs...

Hackers Masquerade as Organizations to Steal Payroll Logins and Redirect Payments from Employees

ReliaQuest, hackers have deployed a cunning search engine optimization (SEO) poisoning scheme to orchestrate...

PupkinStealer Exploits Web Browser Passwords and App Tokens to Exfiltrate Data Through Telegram

A newly identified .NET-based information-stealing malware, dubbed PupkinStealer (also known as PumpkinStealer in some...

Resilience at Scale

Why Application Security is Non-Negotiable

The resilience of your digital infrastructure directly impacts your ability to scale. And yet, application security remains a critical weak link for most organizations.

Application Security is no longer just a defensive play—it’s the cornerstone of cyber resilience and sustainable growth. In this webinar, Karthik Krishnamoorthy (CTO of Indusface) and Phani Deepak Akella (VP of Marketing – Indusface), will share how AI-powered application security can help organizations build resilience by

Discussion points


Protecting at internet scale using AI and behavioral-based DDoS & bot mitigation.
Autonomously discovering external assets and remediating vulnerabilities within 72 hours, enabling secure, confident scaling.
Ensuring 100% application availability through platforms architected for failure resilience.
Eliminating silos with real-time correlation between attack surface and active threats for rapid, accurate mitigation

More like this

Hackers Target Mobile Users Using PWA JavaScript to Bypass Browser Security

A sophisticated new injection campaign has been uncovered, targeting mobile users through malicious third-party...

Docker Zombie Malware Infects Containers for Crypto Mining and Self-Replication

A novel malware campaign targeting containerized infrastructures has emerged, exploiting insecurely exposed Docker APIs...

Hackers Masquerade as Organizations to Steal Payroll Logins and Redirect Payments from Employees

ReliaQuest, hackers have deployed a cunning search engine optimization (SEO) poisoning scheme to orchestrate...