According to a comprehensive India Today report, Indian educational institutions have been hit by a staggering wave of cyber warfare, facing over two lakh cyber attacks and approximately four lakh data breaches within a mere nine-month period.
The alarming statistics emerged from a pilot study conducted by the CyberPeace Foundation's e-Kawach initiative, working alongside DELNET, Resecurity, and Autobot Infosec.
The research indicates that Indian educational institutions may be as much as five times more vulnerable to cyber breaches than institutions with robust security protocols.
The comprehensive analysis, published as "Exploring Cyber Threats and Digital Risks to Indian Educational Institutions," was released during the launch of the innovative "Cyber First Responder" programme.
This initiative is designed to equip students, teaching staff, librarians, and administrative personnel with essential skills to counter cyber threats, combat deepfakes, and prevent AI exploitation.
During the research period from July 2023 to April 2024, investigators identified more than 8,000 distinct usernames and 54,000 unique passwords deployed in aggressive brute-force cyberattacks.
The most frequently targeted login credentials included standard administrative terms like "root" and "admin," while hackers exploited predictable passwords including "123456" and "password."
The study also warns that successful breaches could lead to devastating consequences, including sophisticated phishing operations, fraudulent faculty impersonation schemes, malicious deepfake creation, unauthorised exam paper disclosures, and theft of valuable research information.
