A Swiss vocational school that specializes in nursing and construction has been impacted by the increasing threat of cyberattacks that affect German-speaking educational institutions throughout Europe.
The canton of Schaffhausen’s department of education said on Monday that the Berufsbildungszentrum (BBZ), or Vocational Training Centre, was the target of a ransomware attack earlier this month.
“When attacking the BBZ’s IT systems, cybercriminals blocked access to several systems and demanded a ransom. The attack was carried out using encryption malware on the BBZ servers,” stated the department, adding that it did not respond to the ransom demand.
According to the official release, access was initially gained through “a security gap in the firewall,” and the school’s IT specialists, alongside those from the canton—the local authority—”immediately” responded to “ward off and contain the attack.”
Authorities are still looking into whether the hack resulted in the theft of any personal data. The institution employs roughly 170 people and has about 1,800 apprentices and students enrolled in various programs and careers.
The BBZ stated it has “informed employees, parents, trainees, and training companies about the cyberattack. School lessons will take place as normal after the fall break.”
The village of Schaffhausen, which lies on the banks of the Rhine about 50 km north of Zurich, is the northernmost point of Switzerland.
The ransomware attack on the BBZ follows another on the University of Zurich, Switzerland’s largest university, last year that was described as “part of a current accumulation of attacks on educational and health institutions.”
Hacks targeting German-speaking institutions include attacks on the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences and Hochschule Kempten earlier this year, as well as attacks on the EU/FH European University of Applied Sciences, the University of Duisburg-Essen, the Harz University of Applied Sciences in Saxony-Anhalt, and Ruhr West University.
An inquiry concerning the seeming increased threat level these organizations face was not immediately answered by Switzerland’s National Cyber Security Centre.
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