{"id":36187,"date":"2022-08-30T10:29:01","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T07:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saudishopper.com.sa\/en\/?p=36187"},"modified":"2026-03-28T01:37:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T22:37:55","slug":"back-to-scam-season-fraudsters-launch-phishing-attacks-on-universities-to-steal-private-research-and-student-information","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saudishopper.com.sa\/en\/back-to-scam-season-fraudsters-launch-phishing-attacks-on-universities-to-steal-private-research-and-student-information\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to scam season:\u00a0fraudsters launch phishing attacks on universities to steal private research and student information"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Back to school season is traditionally a profitable time for fraudsters as millions of students around the world are getting ready to make tuition payments, or purchase school supplies and new books. With universities becoming more concerned about their networks\u2019 cybersecurity, attackers find ways to breach these systems by targeting inattentive students, staff and professors. Kaspersky experts highlight intensified phishing campaigns with fraudsters exploiting the names of worlds\u2019 biggest universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

University-specific phishing pages are usually well-crafted and mimic official university webpages or online learning management systems. Once users visit false pages, they are duped into sharing personal information like account credentials, IP addresses or location data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Examples of phishing pages mimicking university log in pages<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The importance of universities\u2019 corporate account safety is often underrated when referring to  organizations\u2019 data protection. Famous educational institution names, some with critical research centers operating in various fields from political economy to nuclear physics, are used as a lure to distribute phishing pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And with governments and large corporations often purchasing research studies from these universities, it makes the sensitive data they possess extremely valuable for attackers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By accessing students\u2019 or employees\u2019 accounts, the attacker may access personal information of their victims but also their educational plans, payment information and timetable of classes. This carries the risks of online threats transitioning to real life stalking and abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEducation becoming more digitalized is a beneficial shift. Not only learning management systems allow students to maximize their academic progress in the most efficient way, but also more people across the world get a chance to learn from best professors at the biggest universities. This also widens the spectrum of threats student face. Scammers are luring students to give away their personal credentials to access data containing not only unique expertise but also private and potentially compromising information,\u201d <\/em>comments Olga Svistunova, security expert at Kaspersky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaspersky recommends the following measures to safeguard systems and young people against education fraud:<\/p>\n\n\n\n