Education Sector Is No. 1 Threat Target Worldwide In 2025: Check Point

One region’s education sector saw a 210 percent year-over-year increase in attacks.



For school districts and many other similar organizations, warding off threats is a continuous battle. There’s the underfunding, and there seems to be an infinite number of threats and bad actors.

Add AI into the mix, and you’ve plunged the education sector into a real cyber battle royale. AI is fueling a rise in emerging threats that can propagate in the wild at unprecedented rates.

And in the battle between the education sector and threat actors it’s truly one of David and Goliath proportions.

Indeed, the education sector was the most targeted industry in 2025 across the globe, according to new research from cybersecurity firm Check Point Software Technologies.

Education organizations averaged 4,356 cyberattacks per organization, per week, a 41 percent increase from 2024, according to Check Point’s report.

Cyber activity in education is at “unprecedented levels,” the report stated.

[RELATED: Public School Districts ‘Outmatched’ By Cybercriminals: Lumifi Cyber Exec]

The Asia-Pacific region is hit the most with an average of 7,869 attacks per week. North America saw the biggest rise in attacks—a 67 percent year-over-year increase.

Africa had a 56 percent increase in attacks against education, and Europe tracked at a 48 percent increase.

The report also revealed the top countries with the most education-targeted attacks so far this year:

Check Point researchers also found that July was peak season for attacks on education organizations. Threat actors use several tactics to carry out attacks. These include emails containing fake university pages that redirect users to malicious credential-harvesting sites, and QR code payment scams.

[RELATED: Check Point’s New CEO Talks AI Threats, SASE And Brutal Honesty]

Education organizations are just “outmatched,” Michael Hamilton, Field CISO at Lumifi Cyber, told MES Computing in a recent interview.

Check Point researchers offered suggestions for schools and other education organizations to protect themselves: