Ransomware Targeting Higher Education
The FBI Cyber Division has issued a flash warning of increased PYSA ransomware activity targeting educational institutions and shared a list of recommended mitigations to help detect and block PYSA attacks.
- Save password-protected copies of system backups offline.
- Retain multiple copies of sensitive or proprietary data and servers in a physically separate, secure location such as a hard drive, storage device, or on the cloud.
- Practice network segmentation.
- Update operating systems, software, firmware, and antivirus programs as soon as updates are available.
- Use multi-factor authentication.
- Use strong and unique passwords.
- Disable unused remote access ports.
- Use least privilege administrative access.
- Secure your Wi-Fi and VPN.
- Provide cyber awareness training to staff.
In addition to your normal incident response protocols, please contact [email protected] with any incidents or suspected incidents of fraud or cyber-attacks, or if you need assistance with Internal Controls.