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A security analysis of cyber-attacks against universities and colleges in the UK has discovered staff or students could often be responsible, rather than organised crime or hacking groups. A government-funded agency that provides cyber-security has examined the timing of 850 attacks in 2017-18. Jisc found a "clear pattern" of attacks being concentrated during term times and during the working day. When the holidays begin, "the number of attacks decreases dramatically". The analysis of cyber-attacks on the research and academic network concludes there are "suspicions that staff or students could be in the frame". Rather than criminal gangs or agents of foreign powers, the findings suggest many of the attacks on universities and colleges are more likely to have been caused by disgruntled staff or students wanting to provoke "chaos". Stopping for the holidays "It's notoriously difficult to identify individual cyber-criminals," says Dr John Chapman, head of security operations for Jisc, (formerly the Joint Information Systems Committee). But the agency, which provides internet and computer services across the higher and further education sectors, has produced a report showing that the peaks and troughs of attacks mirror when students and staff were most likely to be present.