Cyber Risk in Higher Education 2026 

From Threat Intelligence to Practical Resilience

Higher education institutions face a unique and increasingly complex cyber threat landscape. In 2025, cyber activity targeting the higher education sector increased by nearly 63% year-on-year, with ransomware targeting up 21%, data breaches rising 73%, and hacktivist activity increasing 75%. These trends are expected to continue into 2026, driven by geopolitical tensions, predictable academic cycles, and the growing use of automation and AI by threat actors.

This 45-minute webinar, on 18th March, brings together threat intelligence insight and real-world operational experience to help higher education leaders understand what’s changing, and what they can do about it.

Quorum Cyber and Microsoft Security Lockup
Live Webinar |  18 March | 4pm GMT/11am EST

What you'll gain: 

The 45-minute session will cover: 

  • How the threat landscape accelerated in 2025
    Including the rise of ransomware, data exfiltration–first attacks, hacktivism, and nation-state interest in research institutions.

  • Why higher education is uniquely exposed
    From credential sprawl and open networks to research partnerships, international collaboration, and student turnover.

  • Practical mitigation strategies for higher education
    Drawing directly from the Higher Education Trends and Mitigation Guide. 

  •  Lessons from the field
    Practical advice on what works,  and what doesn’t, from those who’ve been responsible for defending higher education environments.

Your Speakers

Together, they’ll unpack what “secure by design” means when it comes to your people, processes, and data, and show how to turn Microsoft’s powerful tools into proactive protection.
Richard Holland

Richard Holland

Former Chief Information Security Officer (Higher Education).

Richard brings first-hand experience leading cyber security programmes within higher education. 

Connect

Emily

Emily Benbow

Incident Response Consultant, Quorum Cyber 

Emily will share insight from Quorum Cyber’s threat intelligence and incident response work

Connect

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