Ransomware attacks on education: 1,004 confirmed incidents, 2018 to 2026

CONFIRMED RANSOMWARE ATTACKS · SECTOR

Ransomnews has confirmed 1,004 ransomware attacks on education between January 2018 and October 2026, each one verified against a public source such as a breach notification, regulatory filing, court record or press report. That is 10.3% of the 9,715 confirmed incidents in the dataset. So far in 2026, 61 have been confirmed, against 113 in 2025 and 146 in 2024. The United States accounts for 650 of them (65%), with victims recorded in 54 countries in total. Where the operator is attributed, Lockbit leads with 57 confirmed victims. A ransom payment is on the public record in 33 cases and a refusal in 176; the outcome is unrecorded in the remaining 795.

Confirmed ransomware attacks on education by year

The current year is a partial count. Confirmation lags the attack itself, so recent months keep filling in after the fact; read a low figure for the latest year as incomplete rather than as a decline.

Which ransomware groups attack education most

The operator is attributed in 574 of the 1,004 confirmed incidents. Counts are confirmed victims, not leak-site claims, so they run well below the totals the groups publish about themselves. Group names link to the live Ransomtracker profile where one exists.

Where the confirmed attacks on education fall

Country shares carry a reporting bias. United States breach-notification law and SEC disclosure rules push far more incidents onto the public record than most jurisdictions, which makes American attacks easier to confirm and inflates the US share of any confirmed dataset.

Ransom payment outcomes for education

Among the 209 confirmed education incidents where the outcome is on the public record, 33 paid and 176 refused, a disclosed payment rate of 15.8%. The remaining 795 carry no public statement either way. Victims that pay have every incentive to stay quiet and public bodies are the most likely to announce a refusal, so treat this as the disclosed rate, not the true one. The ransomware payment rate analysis explains how the disclosed rate has moved since 2018 and how it compares with incident-response firm samples.

Largest confirmed ransomware attacks on education by records exposed

Record counts are recorded only where a named source disclosed them, which is the minority of cases, so this table ranks disclosed impact rather than true impact.

Most recent confirmed ransomware attacks on education

The 25 most recently confirmed of 1,004 incidents, newest first. Every row links to the public source it was verified against.

Frequently asked questions

How to read this page. Every incident counted here was verified by Ransomnews against at least one public source. Leak-site listings alone do not qualify, because operators inflate, duplicate and occasionally fabricate claims, so these totals are a defensible floor rather than a full census. Records exposed and ransom outcomes appear only where a named source disclosed them. The page is regenerated from the live database, which refreshes weekly. Cite as: Ransomnews Confirmed Ransomware Attacks Dataset, ransomnews.com, with a link to this page. Bulk access and methodology questions: [email protected]. See also the monthly ransomware statistics and the Ransomtracker.