University of Nottingham cyberattack exposes significant volume of data
Darktrace finds more than 80 % of professional sports organisations impacted by cyber-incidents in last year
CISO news
University of Nottingham cyberattack exposes significant volume of data
T he University of Nottingham has disclosed a cyberattack in which an external third party gained access to a significant volume of data stored within its student record system.
“ The University of Nottingham has been the victim of a cyber-incident and a significant amount of data in our student record system has been accessed by an external third party,” the university said.
In a statement, the university said current students and alumni were affected by the incident and that it is continuing to investigate the extent of the data exposure.
“ We are working to understand the data that has been accessed and have contacted those students and alumni affected directly. We are working closely with Action Fraud, the Information Commissioner’ s Office and other regulatory bodies.”
The incident has prompted warnings from cybersecurity experts about the growing risks facing educational institutions, which hold large volumes of sensitive personal and financial information.
“ Organisations need to step up their defences and treat cyber-resilience as a core operational priority,” said Spencer Starkey, Executive VP EMEA, SonicWall.
“ Without a decisive shift toward AI-native security strategies across both the public and private sectors, we risk a scenario where public services and critical infrastructure simply cannot keep up with the velocity of what’ s coming.”
Darktrace finds more than 80 % of professional sports organisations impacted by cyber-incidents in last year
arktrace has released new research revealing that 84 % of professional sports organisations experienced a cyberincident in the past 12 months, with more than half
D reporting multiple attacks.
The findings, published in the report Cybersecurity in Global Sport: Threats, Signals, and Strategic Implications for a Digitized Industry, come as AI technologies are being adopted across its operations. areas of adoption include ticketing, fan engagement, marketing and content creation.
Email-based threats remain a major concern. Darktrace telemetry data showed sports sector customers received nearly 20 % more phishing emails than organisations in other industries. Between October 2025 and March 2026, Darktrace detected more than 116,000 phishing emails targeting sports organisations.
According to the research, 83 % of cybersecurity professionals working in professional sports believe they detected AI being used in cyberattacks against their organisations during the past year. Meanwhile, 72 % expect AI to increase cyber-risks over the next 12 months.
Darktrace found that the average cyber-incident cost sports organisations US $ 169,000 over the past year. The financial impact rises significantly for organisations hit repeatedly, with 57 % reporting multiple incidents and 43 % experiencing between six and 10 attacks during the same period.
“ Professional sport is a high-pressure environment where timing matters,” said Nathaniel Jones, VP, Security and AI Strategy, Darktrace.
“ A suspicious login, unusual data movement, or unexpected AI agent action may look small in isolation, but during a live event it can become operationally significant very quickly.”
The report also highlights growing AI adoption throughout the sector. More than a third of respondents said they are already deploying AI in stadium operations or plan to do so within the next 12 months. Other
12 WWW. INTELLIGENTCISO. COM