Butler County and Lewis and Clark Community Colleges are the most recent victims in a spate of ransomware attacks targeting higher ed institutions. The latest institutions to be targeted—Butler County Community College in Pennsylvania and Lewis and Clark Community College in Illinois—remain closed as officials grapple with the aftermath of the attacks. The incidents are part of a rising wave of ransomware attacks targeting American colleges and universities. According to Brett Callow, a threat analyst with the cybersecurity solutions company Emsisoft, 26 of 80 total ransomware incidents in the U.S. education sector so far this year targeted colleges or universities. There were 26 total incidents in 2020, up from just 18 in 2019. Many but not all of these incidents included data breaches, Callow said.
