Several schools in Hull and Yorkshire area suffered significant cyber attacks over Christmas that left the teachers unable to use their computers and schedule lessons.
According to the Sun, all 15 schools of the York-based Hope Sentamu Learning Trust have been targeted by threat actors. Another independent school in Hull, the Hymers College, is also on the list of affected schools.
According to reports, the threat actors have demanded a ransom of £15 million(US$18.5million) to release the control of the internal network of the schools. The hackers have, however, demanded the ransom to be paid in cryptocurrency from Hymers College.
The cyber attack disrupted the schools’ daily operations. Staff nenbers have been asked to not use their computers and instead, plan their lessons manually using pen and paper. A source at the affected schools told the Sun, “Staff have been told they can’t use the school computer network and have to plan their lessons in the old-fashioned way instead — with a pen and paper.”
The Hope Sentamu Learning Trust has confirmed that while parts of the schools’ internal system are still offline as a precaution, some of the systems have been restored. “We take the security of our IT systems extremely seriously,” the Trust added.
In a statement shared with the Sun, Hymers College said, “We quickly became aware of the incident and responded immediately and appropriately, working with all the correct authorities.”
Attacking educational institutions have become a common tactic for threat actors. Recently, threat actors leaked vast amounts of information online that they stole from a number of UK schools between 2021 and 2022.
The compromised data published online included children’s SEN information, pupil passport scans, staff pay scales, and contract details. Threat actors obtained this data in 2021 and 2022 after the targeted schools denied paying a ransom.
Lampton School in Hounslow, London, one of the affected schools, said, “Teachers were aware of the breach but we did not inform them of the data that was stolen. The ICO did not tell us to notify the data subjects. We blocked remote access to all but a small number of staff with two-factor authentication, and all our passwords have been reset.”
Other affected schools include Carmel College, St Helens; Durham Johnston Comprehensive School; Frances King School of English, London/Dublin; Gateway College, Hamilton, Leicester; Holy Family RC + CE College, Heywood; Mossbourne Federation, London; Pilton Community College, Barnstaple; Samuel Ryder Academy, St Albans; School of Oriental and African Studies, London; St Paul’s Catholic College, Sunbury-on-Thames; Test Valley School, Stockbridge; The De Montford School, and Evesham.
