Think Like a Hacker: What Is a Pen-Test & How Can It Protect Education?
Following on from our recent article: Academia Under Siege? How Cyber Attacks Are Disrupting the Education Sector - looking at the most recent findings from the 2025 Cyber Security Breaches Survey, we’re taking a deeper dive into the decline of pen-testing among educational institutions. Breaking down exactly what a pen-test is and highlighting the value regular pen-testing can bring to educational institutions…
With around 91% of higher education institutions (such as universities), 85% of further education colleges and 60% of secondary schools in the UK reporting a breach or attack over the past 12 months, implementation of regular, ongoing cyber security is crucial to driving down risk and protecting both students and staff.
What is a Pen-Test?
Penetration testing, often called ‘pen-testing’ or ‘ethical hacking’, is a cyber security practice where simulated cyber attacks and breach attempts are performed on a system or network to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses in its security – essentially, a pen-test could be considered a ‘controlled hack’, carrier out by a certified penetration tester under controlled conditions.
Pen-testing is a proactive cyber security measure that allows organisations to discover and fix security flaws before they can be exploited by a malicious actor in a real-world incident.
There are several variations of pen-test:
Application Testing: Assesses potential vulnerabilities in mobile apps, web applications & Application Programming Interface (API). These tests assess the resilience of applications used for service delivery or data handling, ensuring robust security measures are in place to protect sensitive information and maintain
Infrastructure Testing: Reviews the interoperability of systems and devices - examining the internal and external infrastructure of a business’s network, identifying vulnerabilities that cyber threat actors could target and measuring the possible damage that could arise should they gain access to the network.
Red Teaming: Real-time cyber-attack simulations, also known as ‘ethical hacking’ – an independent team (‘red team’) simulates a real attack against your institution to test its defensive capabilities. These attacks are typically a cyber-attack but can also include physical site infiltrations and social engineering campaigns.
Why Are Educational Institutions a Key Target for Cyber Criminals?
The recent Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025 found that Education institutions across the board were far more likely to experience a breach or attack than businesses in general (43%), with around 30% of further and higher education institutions reporting to have experienced breaches or attack attempts on a frequent basis.
Valuable & Sensitive Data - It’s no secret that education institutions are hubs for thousands of potentially sensitive and valuable data entries, including names, addresses, social security numbers, financial records, tuition payments, banking details and medical data. Higher education institutions may also house proprietary research and intellectual property, making them targets for potential cyber espionage.
Outdated/Underfunded IT Infrastructure - Many education institutions rely on legacy systems or under-resourced IT departments that can’t keep up with evolving security needs. This is often compounded by budget constraints that cause security upgrades to be delayed or deprioritised.
Large & Open User Networks - Broad user bases, compromised of students, staff and guests, connect to school/education institution networks via personal and institution-owned devices, open up a wide attack surface and introducing potential vulnerabilities through insecure devices or poor cyber hygiene.
Remote Learning & Cloud Dependencies - With many organisations shifting to online learning, the digital footprint of schools, colleges and universities has expanded exponentially – often without adequate security controls in place. Misconfigured cloud services and weak endpoint protection can open the door to cyber attacks.
These vulnerabilities make a compelling case for proactive defences like penetration testing - helping schools, colleges and universities uncover and fix weaknesses before attackers exploit them.
How Will Pen-Testing Help Protect Your Institution?
By simulating real-world cyber attacks, pen-testing reveals vulnerabilities in networks, applications and systems – whether they stem from outdated software, poor configurations, or user behaviour. This allows IT teams to patch gaps, strengthen defences, and improve incident response strategies.
In a sector where data is highly sensitive and downtime can disrupt thousands of learners, regular pen-testing empowers schools, colleges and universities to stay ahead of threats, reduce risk, and foster a culture of cyber awareness and resilience.
The Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025 found that instances of penetration testing being utilised by education institutions, dropped significantly over the past 12 months - with higher education institutions likeliness to conduct pen-testing down from 81% the previous year, to 69%, and only 65% of further education colleges utilising pen-testing, down from 84% the previous year.
It is largely agreed that penetration testing should be carried out annually to adhere to cyber best practice. However, it is also recommended that you carry out some form of pen testing as part of any operational change within your business, such as building a new website, launching an app, or migrating to different software or suppliers.
PureCyber’s team of CREST certified penetration testers are here to support your organisation and help you carry out a full range of penetration tests from application testing to infrastructure testing and even red teaming exercises to assess your cyber security in real-time.
How Can PureCyber Help?
The PureCyber team are here to take over the burden of your cyber security and ensure your organisation’s data remains secure and well managed, with proactive monitoring and real-time threat intelligence - providing you with a comprehensive and reliable cyber department to support you in all aspects of your security efforts, including: 24/7 Security Operations Centre (SOC) services, Managed Detection & Response (MDR/EDR),Threat Exposure Management (TEM) & Brand Protection Services & Penetration Testing.
PureCyber is recognised as an Assured Service Provider by the NCSC to offer governance and compliance consultancy services/audits. Contact our team of compliance experts to enquire about our full range of Governance Support - including Cyber Essentials, ISO 27001, FISMA, SOC1 and SOC2 standards.
Get in touch or book a demo for more information on our services and how we can safeguard your organisation with our expert cyber security solutions.
Email: info@purecyber.com Call: 0800 368 9397
Sources:
PureCyber - Academia Under Siege? How Cyber Attacks Are Disrupting the Education Sector
Cyber Security Breach Survey 2025: Education Institution Findings
Keep an eye on our Events & Webinars page for upcoming PureCyber events including:
Webinar: Uncover The Unseen: Redefining Cyber ROI With Threat Exposure Management
Join our high-impact session revealing how continuous Threat Exposure Management and brand protection are rapidly becoming a critical part of the new frontline of cyber security. Offering compelling examples of how the most prepared organisations are redefining their cyber ROI through proactive cyber security.
What you’ll learn:
+ How attackers are exploiting your digital footprint in places you aren’t watching
+ Why brand protection is no longer just a marketing problem - it’s a security priority
+ Real-world examples of the positive ROI impact proactive cyber security can have
+ The costs of inaction: data leaks, impersonation, revenue loss & reputational damage