Digital education tools and services are now across desktops, laptops, tablets and ARM-based Windows devices are increasingly regarded as an effective choice for studying online. Protection must follow learners across every device they use, since an increasing portion of education is digitalised and relies on the security of data and accounts. That is why Kaspersky is expanding its security portfolio to include ARM-based Windows PCs.
According to a recent survey*, conducted by Kaspersky, 79% of respondents from the Middle East, Turkiye and Africa (META) region had engaged in some form of education in the past 12-months. Of those, the majority had done so at least partially online with – 39% in a fully online format and 31% in a hybrid format.
The survey reveals that almost 63% of people in the META region who pursued online or hybrid education in the past 12-months experienced at least one digital incident related to their learning. The most common were suspicious messages or links (27%), fake apps or websites (23%), and scams through online communities or messaging groups (22%). Other significant issues included fake courses or providers (20%), malware in educational files or apps (18%), and personal data exposure (16%). The same proportion encountered unrecognised certificates (16%). Account hacking represented 11%.
Kaspersky experts have identified several types of spam mailings advertising online education services, showing that spammers are exploiting this growing sector. One of these tactics is aimed at parents, urging them to switch their children to online schooling by criticising traditional schools: “poor grades, teachers who only yell” and asking recipients to forward the message. In another example, emails are aimed at adult working people, suggesting them to go back to school without quitting their day job, however, images in those emails were mismatched and links were redirecting users to unrelated third‑party stores. Additionally, Kaspersky’s spam experts also detected various spam emails offering student‑loan deals.
Spam emails, and other scams encountered in online education, can severely influence both users’ online studies and their overall digital lives, and may even result in data and money loss or a device failure. Half (51%) of those who experienced an incident in the META region lost time, 44% received unwanted advertising, 38% lost trust in educational platforms, and almost a third 29% suffered financial loss — equivalent to roughly one in seven of all learners surveyed.
As digital education spreads across desktops, laptops, tablets, and interest for ARM-based Windows PCs for educational purposes is growing, protection must follow learners across every device they use. Reflecting this, Kaspersky is expanding its security portfolio to ARM-based Windows PCs (e.g., Qualcomm Snapdragon X, Snapdragon X Plus, and Snapdragon X Elite devices), extending its AI-powered scam and malware protection to a broader range of platforms used in digital education.
"We see a growing demand for advanced training courses and university programmes delivered online. This rapid digitalisation, coupled with an evolving threat landscape, creates a clear need for comprehensive digital‑life protection. Losing a thesis because a ransomware blocks a computer, paying for a fake course or having an account compromised after clicking a malicious chat link are serious risks that anyone studying online can face. With Kaspersky now supporting ARM-based devices, our solutions extend AI-powered scam protection to an even broader range of platforms, ensuring that all user’s online activities are secured”, comments Marina Titova, Vice President for Consumer Business at Kaspersky.
To stay protected while learning online Kaspersky experts recommend:
- Create a different password for each learning platform or service. To generate unique and complex passwords use Kaspersky Password Generator and securely store your credentials in Kaspersky Password Manager.
- Activate MFA wherever it’s offered. Even if a password is compromised, the extra verification step blocks unauthorised access.
- Use a trusted security solution like Kaspersky Premium. To ensure advanced protection against increasingly complex cyber threats, Kaspersky actively amplifies its consumer solutions with AI-powered scam protection – a unified suite of technologies that combines machine learning-based anti-phishing algorithms, real-time behaviour monitoring, accompanied by Data Leak and Identity Theft checkers.
- Store copies of assignments, notes and research in a cloud service with versioning or on an external encrypted drive.