Ransomware and data breaches spiked across K‑12 districts and higher‑education institutions in 2025, with 251 incidents recorded globally and the U.S. accounting for the bulk of attacks. Comparitech’s analysis found eight of the 10 largest education breaches occurred in the U.S., including the University of Phoenix (nearly 3.5 million records) and major private colleges. Attackers exploited third‑party vulnerabilities—most notably in Oracle’s E‑Business Suite and other supply‑chain software—exfiltrating student and financial records. Institutions are now re‑examining vendor risk, incident response capacity, cyber insurance terms and the governance role trustees and provosts must play to safeguard institutional continuity and FERPA‑protected data.