By Gavin Mackintosh-
Schools in the UK have lost financial records, students’ coursework, and Covid-19 testing data, during a spike of cyber attacks targeted at education .
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) today published an alert warning schools and other education settings to take protect themselves against ransomware following “an increased number” of attacks since late February.
Schools have been advised to include effective vulnerability management, installing antivirus software and implementing mechanisms to prevent phishing attacks.
Over 10 schools have been targeted since the resumption of schools on March 8, in what could be frustrating and disheartening for affected pupils.
Paul Chichester, director of operations at NCSC, said the targeting of the education sector by cyber criminals is “completely unacceptable” but is a “growing threat”.
Some schools in Cambridge also suffered attacks which many of them are still experiencing, 12 days after the malware was discovered.
Cambridge Meridian Academies Trust found that hackers had infiltrated its network on March 12, and immediately reported the hacking incident to the Government’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
North Cambridge Academy, Ely College, Bar Hill Primary, Swavesey Village College and Northstowe Secondary College are among the schools affected by the virus, which spread via email and even caused problems with phone lines.
Ransomware is a type of malware that prevents individuals from accessing your systems or the data held on them, the NCSC explains.
The data is usually encrypted and may be deleted or stolen.
Cyber criminals usually threaten to release sensitive data stolen during the attack if the ransom is not paid.
The NCSC added: “In recent incidents affecting the education sector, ransomware has led to the loss of student coursework, school financial records, as well as data relating to Covid-19 testing”.
The cyber security experts said the attacks can have a “devastating impact on organisations” and may require a significant amount of recovery time to reinstate critical services.
Recommendations
The Department of Education stated in its email yesterday that it supported the NCSC recommendation not to encourage, endorse or condone the payment of ransom demands.
It warned the “payment of ransoms has no guarantee of restoring access or services and will likely result in repeat incidents to educational settings.”
School leaders have been advised to back up the right data- backups are held offline and their restore services have been tested.
The NCSC recommends a ‘defence in depth’ strategy in order to defend against malware and ransomware attacks.
The advice included effective vulnerability management, installing antivirus software and implementing mechanisms to prevent phishing attacks.