Schools are heavily reliant on both their local IT Systems and network services, especially right now as many of us are remote learning and teaching.

Whilst having this technology today brings many opportunities and advantages, it also brings with it some potential risks.  These are what we know as cyber-attacks.

What is a Cyber Attack?

A cyber-attack is any attempt to expose, alter, disable, destroy, steal, or gain unauthorised access to or make unauthorised use of an asset.

These incidents can be financially driven, taking advantage of system weaknesses such as poor authentication systems.

Any school can fall victim to a cyber incident regardless of its size, the networks are used by many different users and devices.

It is paramount that all education providers review their existing defences and take the necessary steps to protect their networks from cyber-attacks.

Through our work with the NEN, there is some great advice and guidance on managing e-security NEN Cyber Security Guidance for Schools « NEN

Some further advice can be found here:

If you think you have been affected, contact the NCSC Reporting a cyber security incident (ncsc.gov.uk)

A simple and informative infographic on how to combat cyber-attacks NCSC-Cyber-Attacks.pdf (nen.gov.uk)

Security Controls to help protect from the most common cyber- attacks – Common Cyber Attacks: Reducing the Impact – NCSC.GOV.UK