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Overview:

The rapid digitization of educational institutions in India has created both opportunities and challenges. While technology has improved access to education and administrative efficiency, it has also exposed institutions to significant cyber threats. This report, published by CyberPeace, examines the types, causes, impacts, and preventive measures related to cyber risks in Indian educational institutions. It highlights global best practices, national strategies, and actionable recommendations to mitigate these threats.

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Significance of the Study:

The pandemic-induced shift to online learning, combined with limited cybersecurity budgets, has made educational institutions prime targets for cyberattacks. These threats compromise sensitive student, faculty, and institutional data, leading to operational disruptions, financial losses, and reputational damage. Globally, educational institutions face similar challenges, emphasizing the need for universal and localized responses.

Threat Faced by Education Institutions:

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Based on the insights from the CyberPeace’s report titled 'Exploring Cyber Threats and Digital Risks in Indian Educational Institutions', this concise blog provides a comprehensive overview of cybersecurity threats and risks faced by educational institutions, along with essential details to address these challenges.

🎣 Phishing: Phishing is a social engineering tactic where cyber criminals impersonate trusted sources to steal sensitive information, such as login credentials and financial details. It often involves deceptive emails or messages that lead to counterfeit websites, pressuring victims to provide information quickly. Variants include spear phishing, smishing, and vishing.

💰 Ransomware: Ransomware is malware that locks users out of their systems or data until a ransom is paid. It spreads through phishing emails, malvertising, and exploiting vulnerabilities, causing downtime, data leaks, and theft. Ransom demands can range from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

🌐 Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS): DDoS attacks overwhelm servers, denying users access to websites and disrupting daily operations, which can hinder students and teachers from accessing learning resources or submitting assignments. These attacks are relatively easy to execute, especially against poorly protected networks, and can be carried out by amateur cybercriminals, including students or staff, seeking to cause disruptions for various reasons

🕵️ Cyber Espionage: Higher education institutions, particularly research-focused universities, are vulnerable to spyware, insider threats, and cyber espionage. Spyware is unauthorized software that collects sensitive information or damages devices. Insider threats arise from negligent or malicious individuals, such as staff or vendors, who misuse their access to steal intellectual property or cause data leaks..

🔒 Data Theft: Data theft is a major threat to educational institutions, which store valuable personal and research information. Cybercriminals may sell this data or use it for extortion, while stealing university research can provide unfair competitive advantages. These attacks can go undetected for long periods, as seen in the University of California, Berkeley breach, where hackers allegedly stole 160,000 medical records over several months.

🛠️ SQL Injection: SQL injection (SQLI) is an attack that uses malicious code to manipulate backend databases, granting unauthorized access to sensitive information like customer details. Successful SQLI attacks can result in data deletion, unauthorized viewing of user lists, or administrative access to the database.

🔍Eavesdropping attack: An eavesdropping breach, or sniffing, is a network attack where cybercriminals steal information from unsecured transmissions between devices. These attacks are hard to detect since they don't cause abnormal data activity. Attackers often use network monitors, like sniffers, to intercept data during transmission.

🤖 AI-Powered Attacks: AI enhances cyber attacks like identity theft, password cracking, and denial-of-service attacks, making them more powerful, efficient, and automated. It can be used to inflict harm, steal information, cause emotional distress, disrupt organizations, and even threaten national security by shutting down services or cutting power to entire regions

Insights from Project eKawach

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The CyberPeace Research Wing, in collaboration with SAKEC CyberPeace Center of Excellence (CCoE) and Autobot Infosec Private Limited, conducted a study simulating educational institutions' networks to gather intelligence on cyber threats. As part of the e-Kawach project, a nationwide initiative to strengthen cybersecurity, threat intelligence sensors were deployed to monitor internet traffic and analyze real-time cyber attacks from July 2023 to April 2024, revealing critical insights into the evolving cyber threat landscape.

Cyber Attack  Trends

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Between July 2023 and April 2024, the e-Kawach network recorded 217,886 cyberattacks from IP addresses worldwide, with a significant portion originating from countries including the United States, China, Germany, South Korea, Brazil, Netherlands, Russia, France, Vietnam, India, Singapore, and Hong Kong. However, attributing these attacks to specific nations or actors is complex, as threat actors often use techniques like exploiting resources from other countries, or employing VPNs and proxies to obscure their true locations, making it difficult to pinpoint the real origin of the attacks.

Brute Force Attack:

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The analysis uncovered an extensive use of automated tools in brute force attacks, with 8,337 unique usernames and 54,784 unique passwords identified. Among these, the most frequently targeted username was “root,” which accounted for over 200,000 attempts. Other commonly targeted usernames included: "admin", "test", "user", "oracle", "ubuntu", "guest", "ftpuser", "pi", "support"

Similarly, the study identified several weak passwords commonly targeted by attackers. “123456” was attempted over 3,500 times, followed by “password” with over 2,500 attempts. Other frequently targeted passwords included: "1234", "12345", "12345678", "admin", "123", "root", "test", "raspberry", "admin123", "123456789"

Insights from Threat Landscape Analysis

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Research done by the USI - CyberPeace Centre of Excellence (CCoE) and Resecurity has uncovered several breached databases belonging to public, private, and government universities in India, highlighting significant cybersecurity threats in the education sector. The research aims to identify and mitigate cybersecurity risks without harming individuals or assigning blame, based on data available at the time, which may evolve with new information. Institutions were assigned risk ratings that descend from A to F, with most falling under a D rating, indicating numerous security vulnerabilities. Institutions rated D or F are 5.4 times more likely to experience data breaches compared to those rated A or B. Immediate action is recommended to address the identified risks.

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Risk Findings :

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The risk findings for the institutions are summarized through a pie chart, highlighting factors such as data breaches, dark web activity, botnet activity, and phishing/domain squatting. Data breaches and botnet activity are significantly higher compared to dark web leakages and phishing/domain squatting. The findings show 393,518 instances of data breaches, 339,442 instances of botnet activity, 7,926 instances related to the dark web and phishing & domain activity - 6711.

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Key Indicators:  Multiple instances of data breaches containing credentials (email/passwords) in plain text.

• Botnet activity indicating network hosts compromised by malware.

• Credentials from third-party government and non-governmental websites linked to official institutional emails

• Details of software applications, drivers installed on compromised hosts.

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• Sensitive cookie data exfiltrated from various browsers.

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• IP addresses of compromised systems.
• Login credentials for different Android applications.

Below is the sample detail of one of the top educational institutions that provides the insights about the higher rate of data breaches, botnet activity, dark web activities and phishing & domain squatting. 

Risk Detection: 

It indicates the number of data breaches, network hygiene, dark web activities, botnet activities, cloud security, phishing & domain squatting, media monitoring and miscellaneous risks. In the below example, we are able to see the highest number of data breaches and botnet activities in the sample particular domain.

Risk Changes:

Risk by Categories:

Risk is categorized with factors such as high, medium and low, the risk is at high level for data breaches and botnet activities.

Challenges Faced by Educational Institutions

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Educational institutions face cyberattack risks, the challenges leading to cyberattack incidents in educational institutions are as follows:

🔒 Lack of a Security Framework: A key challenge in cybersecurity for educational institutions is the lack of a dedicated framework for higher education. Existing frameworks like ISO 27001, NIST, COBIT, and ITIL are designed for commercial organizations and are often difficult and costly to implement. Consequently, many educational institutions in India do not have a clearly defined cybersecurity framework.

🔑 Diverse User Accounts: Educational institutions manage numerous accounts for staff, students, alumni, and third-party contractors, with high user turnover. The continuous influx of new users makes maintaining account security a challenge, requiring effective systems and comprehensive security training for all users.

📚 Limited Awareness: Cybersecurity awareness among students, parents, teachers, and staff in educational institutions is limited due to the recent and rapid integration of technology. The surge in tech use, accelerated by the pandemic, has outpaced stakeholders' ability to address cybersecurity issues, leaving them unprepared to manage or train others on these challenges.

📱 Increased Use of Personal/Shared Devices: The growing reliance on unvetted personal/Shared devices for academic and administrative activities amplifies security risks.

💬 Lack of Incident Reporting: Educational institutions often neglect reporting cyber incidents, increasing vulnerability to future attacks. It is essential to report all cases, from minor to severe, to strengthen cybersecurity and institutional resilience.

Impact of Cybersecurity Attacks on Educational Institutions

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Cybersecurity attacks on educational institutions lead to learning disruptions, financial losses, and data breaches. They also harm the institution's reputation and pose security risks to students. The following are the impacts of cybersecurity attacks on educational institutions:

📚Impact on the Learning Process: A report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that cyberattacks on school districts resulted in learning losses ranging from three days to three weeks, with recovery times taking between two to nine months.

💸Financial Loss: US schools reported financial losses ranging from $50,000 to $1 million due to expenses like hardware replacement and cybersecurity upgrades, with recovery taking an average of 2 to 9 months.

🔒Data Security Breaches: Cyberattacks exposed sensitive data, including grades, social security numbers, and bullying reports. Accidental breaches were often caused by staff, accounting for 21 out of 25 cases, while intentional breaches by students, comprising 27 out of 52 cases, frequently involved tampering with grades.

⚠️Data Security Breach: Cyberattacks on schools result in breaches of personal information, including grades and social security numbers, causing emotional, physical, and financial harm. These breaches can be intentional or accidental, with a US study showing staff responsible for most accidental breaches (21 out of 25) and students primarily behind intentional breaches (27 out of 52) to change grades.

🏫Impact on Institutional Reputation: Cyberattacks damaged the reputation of educational institutions, eroding trust among students, staff, and families. Negative media coverage and scrutiny impacted staff retention, student admissions, and overall credibility.

🛡️ Impact on Student Safety: ‍‍Cyberattacks compromised student safety and privacy. For example, breaches like live-streaming school CCTV footage caused severe distress, negatively impacting students' sense of security and mental well-being.

CyberPeace Advisory:

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CyberPeace emphasizes the importance of vigilance and proactive measures to address cybersecurity risks:

1. Develop effective incident response plans: Establish a clear and structured plan to quickly identify, respond to, and recover from cyber threats. Ensure that staff are well-trained and know their roles during an attack to minimize disruption and prevent further damage.
   
   
2. Implement access controls with role-based permissions: Restrict access to sensitive information based on individual roles within the institution. This ensures that only authorized personnel can access certain data, reducing the risk of unauthorized access or data breaches.
   
   
3. Regularly update software and conduct cybersecurity training: Keep all software and systems up-to-date with the latest security patches to close vulnerabilities. Provide ongoing cybersecurity awareness training for students and staff to equip them with the knowledge to prevent attacks, such as phishing.
   
   
4. Ensure regular and secure backups of critical data: Perform regular backups of essential data and store them securely in case of cyber incidents like ransomware. This ensures that, if data is compromised, it can be restored quickly, minimizing downtime.
   
   
5. Adopt multi-factor authentication (MFA): Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication(MFA) for accessing sensitive systems or information to strengthen security. MFA adds an extra layer of protection by requiring users to verify their identity through more than one method, such as a password and a one-time code.
   
   
6. Deploy anti-malware tools: Use advanced anti-malware software to detect, block, and remove malicious programs. This helps protect institutional systems from viruses, ransomware, and other forms of malware that can compromise data security.
   
   
7. Monitor networks using intrusion detection systems (IDS): Implement IDS to monitor network traffic and detect suspicious activity. By identifying threats in real time, institutions can respond quickly to prevent breaches and minimize potential damage.
   
   
8. Conduct penetration testing: Regularly conduct penetration testing to simulate cyberattacks and assess the security of institutional networks. This proactive approach helps identify vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by actual attackers.
   
   
9. Collaborate with cybersecurity firms: Partner with cybersecurity experts to benefit from specialized knowledge and advanced security solutions. Collaboration provides access to the latest technologies, threat intelligence, and best practices to enhance the institution's overall cybersecurity posture.
   
   
10. Share best practices across institutions: Create forums for collaboration among educational institutions to exchange knowledge and strategies for cybersecurity. Sharing successful practices helps build a collective defense against common threats and improves security across the education sector.

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Conclusion: 

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The increasing cyber threats to Indian educational institutions demand immediate attention and action. With vulnerabilities like data breaches, botnet activities, and outdated infrastructure, institutions must prioritize effective cybersecurity measures. By adopting proactive strategies such as regular software updates, multi-factor authentication, and incident response plans, educational institutions can mitigate risks and safeguard sensitive data. Collaborative efforts, awareness, and investment in cybersecurity will be essential to creating a secure digital environment for academia.

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Executive Summary: 

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A purported media release allegedly issued in the name of the International Cricket Council (ICC) is being widely circulated on social media. The release claims that the ICC has decided to impose a one-year ban on Pakistan cricket. CyberPeace’s research found this claim to be false.The research  revealed that the media release circulating on social media is fake, and no such letter or official statement has been issued by the ICC.

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Claim:

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On social media platform X (formerly Twitter), a user shared the viral letter on February 3, 2026, claiming that an ICC meeting was held in which board members voted on issues related to Pakistan. The post alleged that 14 out of 16 votes were cast in favour of the BCCI. The user further claimed that Pakistan’s share of ICC revenue would be reduced and that Pakistan might be asked to compensate for losses incurred by the ICC.

The viral letter, written in English, stated that matters related to Pakistan were discussed in an ICC meeting and that a 14–2 majority vote led to the decision to impose a one-year ban on Pakistan cricket. It further claimed that the Pakistan Super League (PSL) would be suspended for one year, Pakistan’s annual revenue share would be reduced from 5.75 percent to 2.25 percent, and Pakistan would not be allowed to host any ICC tournaments until 2040. The letter also claimed that these decisions were taken to safeguard the integrity and spirit of the game. Links to the viral post, archive link, and screenshots can be seen below.

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• https://x.com/Jitendr62858659/status/2018675523442937953 

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Fact Check: 

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To verify the viral claim, CyberPeace conducted a Google search using relevant keywords. However, no credible or reliable media reports supporting the claim were found. In the next step of the research , an official press release uploaded on DD Sports’ Facebook page on February 2, 2026, was found. The press release responded to Pakistan’s decision not to play against India in a Group A match. The DD Sports statement said that the Pakistan Cricket Board should consider the long-term and serious implications of such a decision, as it could impact the global cricket ecosystem—of which Pakistan is itself a member and beneficiary.

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Notably, the official press release made no mention of any ban on Pakistan cricket, reduction in revenue share, suspension of the PSL, or restrictions on hosting ICC tournaments, contrary to the claims made in the viral letter. Further, the same official statement was found published on the ICC’s website on February 1, 2026. This release also did not mention any decision related to banning Pakistan cricket or barring the country from hosting ICC tournaments for the next 40 years.

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• https://www.icc-cricket.com/media-releases/icc-statement-on-icc-men-s-t20-world-cup-2026

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Conclusion

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CyberPeace concludes that the media release circulating on social media is fake. The ICC has not issued any official letter or statement announcing a one-year ban on Pakistan cricket, revenue cuts, or restrictions on hosting ICC tournaments.

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Introduction

In the evolving landscape of cybercrime, attackers are not only becoming more sophisticated in their approach but also more adept in their infrastructure. The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) has issued a warning about the use of ‘disposable domains’ by cybercriminals. These are short-lived websites designed tomimic legitimate platforms, deceive users, and then disappear quickly to avoid detection and legal repercussions.

Although they may appear harmless at first glance, disposable domains form the backbone of countless online scams, phishing campaigns, malware distributionschemes, and disinformation networks. Cybercriminals use them to host fake websites, distribute malicious files, send deceptive emails, and mislead unsuspecting users, all while evading detection and takedown efforts.

As India’s digital economy grows and more citizens, businesses, and public services move online, it is crucial to understand this hidden layer of cybercrime infrastructure.Greater awareness among individuals, enterprises, and policymakers is essential to strengthen defences against fraud, protect users from harm, and build trust in thedigital ecosystem

What Are Disposable Domains?

A disposable domain is a website domain that is registered to be used temporarily, usually for hours or days, typically to evade detection or accountability.

These domains are inexpensive, easy to obtain, and can be set up with minimal information. They are often bought in bulk through domain registrars that do not strictly verify ownership information, sometimes using stolen credit cards or cryptocurrencies to remain anonymous. They differ from legitimate temporary domains used for testing or development in one significant aspect, which is ‘purpose’. Cybercriminals use disposable domains to carry out malicious activities such as phishing, sextortion, malware distribution, fake e-commerce sites, spam email campaigns, and disinformation operations.

How Cybercriminals Utilise Disposable Domains

1. Phishing & Credential Stealing: Attackers tend to register lookalike domains that are similar to legitimate websites (e.g., go0gle-login[.]com or sbi-verification[.]online) and trick victims into entering their login credentials. These domains will be active only long enough to deceive, and then they will disappear.

2. Malware Distribution: Disposable domains are widely used for ransomware and spyware operations for hosting malicious files. Because the domains are temporary, threat intelligence systems tend to notice them too late.

3. Fake E-Commerce & Investment Scams: Cyber crooks clone legitimate e-commerce or investment sites, place ad campaigns, and trick victims into "purchasing" goods or investing in scams. The domain vanishes when the scam runs out.

4. Spam and Botnets: Disposable domains assist in botnet command-and-control activities. They make it more difficult for defenders to block static IPs or trace the attacker's infrastructure.

5. Disinformation and Influence Campaigns: State-sponsored actors and coordinated troll networks use disposable domains to host fabricated news articles, fake government documents, and manipulated videos. When these sites are detected and taken down, they are quickly replaced with new domains, allowing the disinformation cycle to continue uninterrupted.

Why Are They Hard to Stop?

Registering a domain is inexpensive and quick, often requiring no more than an email address and payment. The difficulty is the easy domain registrations and the absence of worldwide enforcement. Domain registrars differ in enforcing Know-Your-Customer (KYC) standards stringently. ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has certain regulations in place but enforcement is inconsistent. ICANN does require registrars to maintain accurate Who is information (the “Registrant Data Accuracy Policy”) and to act on abuse complaints. However, ICANN is not an enforcement agency. It oversees contracts with registrars but cannot directly police every registration. Cybercriminals exploit services such as:

• Privacy protection shields that conceal actual WHOIS information.
• Bulletproof hosting that evades takedown notices.
• Fast-flux DNS methods to rapidly alter IP addresses

Additionally, utilisation of IDNs ( Internationalised Domain Names) and homoglyph attacks enables the attackers to register visually similar domains to legitimate ones (e.g., using Cyrillic characters to represent Latin ones).

Real-World Example: India and the Rise of Fake Investment Sites

India has witnessed a wave of monetary scams that are connected with disposable domains. Over hundreds of false websites impersonating government loan schemes, banks or investment websites, and crypto-exchanges were found on disposable domains such as gov-loans-apply[.]xyz, indiabonds-secure[.]top, or rbi-invest[.]store. Most of them placed paid advertisements on sites such as Facebook or Google and harvested user information and payments, only to vanish in 48–72 hours. Victims had no avenue of proper recourse, and the authorities were left with a digital ghost trail.

How Disposable Domains Undermine Cybersecurity

• Bypass Blacklists: Dynamic domains constantly shifting evade static blacklists.
• Delay Attribution: Time is wasted pursuing non-existent owners or takedowns.
• Mass Targeting: One actor can register thousands of domains and attack at scale.
• Undermine Trust: Frequent users become targets when genuine sites are duplicated and it looks realistic.

Recommendations Addressing Legal and Policy Gaps in India

1. There is a need to establish a formal coordination mechanism between domain registrars and national CERTs such as CERT-In to enable effective communication and timely response to domain-based threats.

2. There is a need to strengthen the investigative and enforcement capabilities of law enforcement agencies through dedicated resources, training, and technical support to effectively tackle domain-based scams.

3. There is a need to leverage the provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 to take action against phishing websites and malicious domains that collect personal data without consent.

4. There is a need to draft and implement specific regulations or guidelines to address the misuse of digital infrastructure, particularly disposable and fraudulent domains, and close existing regulatory gaps.

What Can Be Done: CyberPeace View

1. Stronger KYC for Domain Registrations: Registrars selling domains to Indian users or based in India should conduct verified KYC processes, with legal repercussions for carelessness.

2. Real-Time Domain Blacklists: CERT-In, along with ISPs and hosting companies, should operate and enforce a real-time blacklist of scam domains known.

3. Public Reporting Tools: Observers or victims should be capable of reporting suspicious domains through an easy interface (tied to cybercrime.gov.in).

4. Collaboration with Tech Platforms: Social media services and online ad platforms should filter out ads associated with disposable or spurious domains and report abuse data to CERT-In.

5. User Awareness: Netizens should be educated to check URLs thoroughly, not click on unsolicited links and they must verify the authenticity of websites.

Conclusion

Disposable domains have silently become the foundation of contemporary cybercrime. They are inexpensive, highly anonymous, and short-lived, which makes them a darling weapon for cybercriminals ranging from solo spammers to nation-state operators. In an increasingly connected Indian society where the penetration rate of internet users is high, this poses an expanding threat to economic security, public confidence, and national resilience. Combating this problem will need a combination of technical defences, policy changes, public-private alliances, and end-user sensitisation. As India develops a Cyber Secure Bharat, monitoring and addressing disposable domain abuse must be the utmost concern.

References

• https://www.bitcot.com/disposable-domains
• https://atdata.com/blog/evolution-of-email-fraud-rise-of-hyper-disposable-domains/
• https://www.cyfirma.com/research/scamonomics-the-dark-side-of-stock-crypto-investments-in-india/
• https://knowledgebase.constantcontact.com/lead-gen-crm/articles/KnowledgeBase/50330-Understanding-Blocked-Forbidden-and-Disposable-Domains?lang=en_US
• https://www.meity.gov.in/
• https://intel471.com/blog/bulletproof-hosting-fast-flux-dns-double-flux-vps

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