Key Topics Covered

Why Phishing Works So Well in Education Environment

What Staff Should Actually Look For

Building a Culture That Reduces Risk

Phishing remains one of the most common and effective cybersecurity threats affecting organizations worldwide. Rather than exploiting technical vulnerabilities alone, phishing targets people by using impersonation, urgency, and trust to convince individuals to disclose credentials, open malicious links, or share sensitive information. According to the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, phishing continues to be among the leading initial attack vectors in cybersecurity incidents.^[1]

Educational institutions and organizations operating in the assessment sector are not immune to these risks. Their operations often involve large numbers of users, external stakeholders, and access to student and assessment-related information - sometimes sensitive one. According to research published by the World Economic Forum, the education and research sector experienced the highest number of cyberattacks globally in 2023, averaging more attacks per organization than any other industry.^[2] In the United States, recent research further found that more than half of school districts experienced a cybersecurity incident during 2025.^[3] 

At the same time, phishing emails have become increasingly sophisticated. They no longer contain obvious warning signs such as poor grammar or suspicious formatting. Instead, they imitate legitimate communications from colleagues or public authorities, and are designed to blend into everyday workflows.

This article outlines common characteristics of modern phishing, practical warning signs employees should recognize, and organizational practices that can help to reduce risk and strengthen operational resilience.

Why Phishing Works So Well in Education Environment

In education and assessment environments, where staff regularly interact with schools, ministries, vendors, and external partners, large volumes of emails and requests are part of daily operations. This makes fraudulent messages easier to disguise as legitimate communication. 

Scammers also take advantage of operational urgency. Requests related to examination materials, account access, reporting deadlines, or administrative approvals often require quick action, leaving less time for careful verification. Guidance from the National Cyber Security Centre notes that phishing incidents commonly use urgency and impersonation to encourage recipients to act without fully verifying the request.^[4]

Recent incidents have demonstrated how these incidents can directly affect assessment operations. In 2023, UK authorities investigated cyber incidents involving several major examination boards. Scammers reportedly gained access to a school email account and used it to impersonate legitimate staff in communications with examination boards, requesting confidential exam materials before examinations were administered.^[5] The incident highlighted how scammers can exploit trusted communication channels and daily operational processes rather than relying on sophisticated technical abuse. Understanding these operational and behavioral factors is an important first step in reducing organizational risk. 

What Staff Should Actually Look For

Modern phishing is often difficult to identify because it is designed to resemble legitimate communications. One of the most common warning signs is urgency. Scammers frequently create pressure to encourage quick action before the recipient has time to verify the request. For example, an email claiming that assessment materials must be reviewed immediately, that an account will be suspended within hours, or that examination results require urgent approval should always prompt additional scrutiny. 

Another common tactic is impersonation. Scammers may pretend to be a colleague, administrator, ministry representative, or senior leader. The message may appear entirely legitimate at first glance, but closer inspection may reveal a slightly altered email address, an unusual request, or a communication style that differs from previous correspondence.^[6]

Employees should also be cautious when a message asks them to bypass established procedures. For example, a request to share assessment materials through an unapproved channel, reset credentials without following normal verification steps, or provide information that would not normally be requested should be treated as suspicious. In many phishing incidents, the request itself, not the email's appearance, is the strongest warning sign.

Finally, phishing messages often attempt to obtain credentials or direct users to login pages. Before entering usernames, passwords, or other sensitive information, staff should verify that they are using a legitimate website and that the request is consistent with normal organizational processes. The rule is simple: if a request feels unusual, urgent, or inconsistent with established procedures, the staff shall take a moment to verify it through a trusted channel before taking action.

Building a Culture That Reduces Risk 

The most effective way to reduce phishing risk is to prevent malicious messages from reaching staff in the first place. Organizations should therefore implement appropriate technical safeguards, such as email filtering, fraud prevention controls, multi-factor authentication, and access management measures. While no solution can stop every phishing attempt, these controls can significantly reduce the number of malicious emails that reach users and limit the impact of a successful incident.^[7]

However, technical safeguards alone are not enough. When phishing email reaches an inbox, staff become an important line of defense. Organizations should provide regular awareness training and practical guidance that helps employees to recognize common phishing techniques as those explained above, namely impersonation, unusual requests, and messages designed to create a sense of urgency. 

Staff should also know what to do when they encounter a suspicious message. Clear verification procedures are essential to help employees to confirm unusual requests through an alternative communication channel before taking action. Equally important are simple and well-understood reporting mechanisms. The faster a phishing attempt is reported, the faster security teams can investigate and respond, potentially preventing broader impacts across the organization.^[8]

Ultimately, reducing phishing risk is not about expecting staff to identify every malicious message. It is about combining effective technical safeguards, practical awareness, and clear procedures to create an environment where employees feel confident to pause, verify, and report when something does not seem right. 

Conclusion

The most important takeaway is that phishing is not only a technical issue but an operational and organizational one. It succeeds when requests appear routine, urgent, or authoritative, and when there is insufficient time or structure to verify them properly. 

Reducing risk therefore requires a layered approach. Preventive technical controls such as email filtering, authentication mechanisms, and access management help to reduce the number of malicious messages that can reach staff. At the same time, verification procedures and simple reporting channels ensure that suspicious messages can be escalated quickly when they do appear. Finally, ongoing awareness and practical training help staff to recognize that legitimacy should never be assumed based solely on appearance or familiarity.

Taken together, these measures shift the organization from a reactive position, where individuals are expected to recognize every threat, to a structured approach where processes and people work together to reduce exposure and limit impact.

Ultimately, the goal is not to eliminate risk entirely, but to ensure that when phishing attempts occur, they are quickly identified, safely contained, and do not disrupt the integrity of assessment processes or the trust placed in them by the public.

About the Author

Jana Begun is an EU-based legal professional specializing in data protection and privacy, with a focus on regulatory compliance. She holds an LL.M. from Stockholm University and is a Certified Information Privacy Professional/Europe (CIPP/E). At Vretta, she supports GDPR compliance and integrates privacy and security principles into the company’s day-to-day operations and digital learning platforms.

Her work centers on making complex legal requirements practical. She enjoys transforming privacy and security into actionable frameworks, helping build a culture where these topics are not just policies, but integral parts of everyday decision-making. 

If you are interested in discussing data protection developments and explore how to strengthen security practices, please feel free to get in touch with Jana Begun at: dpo@vretta.com | LinkedIn

References

1. European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), ENISA Threat Landscape 2023, available at: https://www.enisa.europa.eu/publications/enisa-threat-landscape-2023.

2. World Economic Forum, Is your industry at risk of a cyberattack? (2023). Available at: https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/06/cyberattacks-target-industries-revealed/. 

3. PR Newswire, New Report Finds One in Two U.S. School Districts Experienced a Cybersecurity Incident in 2025 (2026) available at: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-report-finds-one-in-two-us-school-districts-experienced-a-cybersecurity-incident-in-2025-302709821.html. 

4. National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), Phishing attacks: defending your organisation, available at: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/phishing.

5. FE Week, Police investigate stolen exam papers after cyber attack 2023, available at: https://feweek.co.uk/police-investigate-stolen-exam-papers-after-cyber-attack/?utm.

6. Supra note 4.

7.  Ibid.

8. Ibid.