It is a normal school morning. Staff log on to prepare lessons, students access shared resources, and administrative teams manage safeguarding, finance and communications systems. On the surface, everything feels routine. Yet behind the scenes, education networks are under constant pressure.

The UK Government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025 paints a stark picture. In 2025, 91% of higher education institutions and 85% of further education colleges reported a cyber security breach or attack. Secondary schools followed closely, while primary schools experienced incidents at a similar rate to UK businesses overall.

For many institutions, these are not isolated events. Further and higher education settings are more likely to experience a wide range of attack types, from impersonation and malware to denial of service attacks. Almost a third are facing incidents on a weekly basis, and four in ten have suffered a negative outcome as a result. These figures highlight a simple truth. Cyber security in education is no longer about if an incident will happen, but when, and how well prepared an organisation is to respond.

A growing threat to everyday learning

Ransomware has become one of the most disruptive threats facing schools, academies and colleges. Attackers increasingly target education because they understand the pressures involved. Limited IT resources, legacy devices, large numbers of users and the need to keep systems available all create opportunities for exploitation. A single successful attack can bring learning to a standstill, compromise sensitive data and place a significant financial burden on an institution.

At Ask4Support, curiosity underpins how we respond to these challenges. We take the time to understand how each education environment works, asking the right questions and looking beyond surface-level fixes. That curiosity drives a solution-focused mindset, helping us identify technologies that reduce risk rather than simply reacting once damage has been done. This is why we partnered with Morphisec, a global leader in Moving Target Defence technology, to deliver a new standard of ransomware prevention for the UK education sector.

Morphisec takes a prevention-first approach. Instead of trying to detect threats after they appear, its Moving Target Defence technology stops attacks before they can run. By constantly shifting the attack surface, it removes the stable pathways that malware relies on to execute. If ransomware cannot find what it needs, it cannot do harm.

Security built around education

For education providers, the benefits of this approach are practical and immediate. Zero-day ransomware is blocked instantly, without reliance on signatures or frequent updates. The lightweight agent runs quietly, even on older devices, with minimal impact on performance. Deployment is rapid, IT overheads are reduced, and learning continues uninterrupted.

As a managed service provider, our role is not just to supply technology, but to work collaboratively as a long-term partner. Many of the organisations we support have been with us for more than a decade, a testament to the relationships we build and the consistency of our approach.

Human-centred IT support from Ask4Support

We believe IT support should feel human, approachable and clear, particularly when dealing with complex issues like cyber security. By combining curiosity, collaboration and a genuine commitment to our customers, we help education providers move from reacting to cyber threats to confidently and proactively managing them.

Contact us today

To find out more about how Ask4Support and Morphisec are helping education providers stay ransomware-free, speak to us on 01491 712344 or email info@ask4support.co.uk.

You can also find us at this year’s Bett 2026 expo on 21st – 23rd January on stand SG85.