India, Sept. 3 -- Ransomware attacks on education are increasingly becoming an identity problem, according to Sophos' State of Ransomware in Education 2026 report. Identity-based attack techniques, including malicious email, phishing, compromised credentials and brute force attacks, appeared in 85% of ransomware incidents against education institutions.

That figure is higher than the 79% cross-sector average, putting identity compromise at the centre of the ransomware challenge for both lower and higher education. The findings are based on an independent survey of 226 IT and cybersecurity leaders across 17 countries whose organisations were affected by ransomware during the past year.

Malicious email remains the leading entry point Mali...