Higher education institutions have long been subjected to ransomware and other cyber attacks, which has had a huge impact on their operations. In 2020 alone, ransomware attacks affected nearly 1,700 U.S. schools, colleges and universities – which is an increase of 100% over the previous year. The average cost of these attacks were $2.73 million in downtime, repairs and lost opportunities.

Cyberattacks targeting university and government healthcare facilities are on the rise. In the first four months of 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center tracked a total of 82 ransomware incidents targeting the healthcare sector, with nearly 60% of them affecting the U.S. market. The impact has been devastating.

On the latest episode of the Security Soapbox podcast, I spoke with Ramy Houssaini, Chief Cyber and Technology Risk Officer at BNP Paribas, about the challenges Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) face in an increasingly complex digital landscape. Change happens quickly in the cloud, and many organizations are faced with the issue of evolving their security strategy at the same pace. This ends up leaving sensitive apps and data vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Here at Lookout we have a long tradition of supporting the cybersecurity requirements of all levels of government in the U.S. This is why I’m thrilled to announce that we have received a Level 2 certification, the highest tier of authorization, from the Texas Risk and Authorization Management Program (TX-RAMP).

Apple recently announced a new feature in its upcoming iOS and iPadOS called Lockdown Mode. The aim is to protect users such as corporate executives, government officials, journalists, activists and other users that are likely targets of sophisticated surveillanceware. The goal of Lockdown Mode is to restrict certain device capabilities that spyware has exploited in the past in order to reduce the attack surface on Apple devices.