Ransomware Detection for Securing Hybrid Learning Environments in Educational Institutions

Ransomware has become a significant cybersecurity threat, particularly within the education sector. The sometimes-outdated infrastructure, limited security investment for robust defence and the high-value data, make institutions such as schools, colleges and universities valuable sources of information and therefore valuable targets. This paper investigates the anatomy of the attack, with the aim of suggesting the development of an ethical and functional anti-ransomware tool. A review of related material regarding existing anti-ransomware tools such as Bitdefender, Malwarebytes and Microsoft Defender which provide strong behavioural detection is examined and results presented, which provides the basis of the development; however, they often find it difficult working in the operating environments in the education sector, as they are developed to operate on up-to-date equipment, thus it can cause issues in detecting malware. Following the research, a pilot piece of software was developed to test and investigate the issues raised. The software was designed to detect and decrypt a ransomware file and folders.