The number of cyber attacks on schools has increased in the last few weeks. These attacks often take the form of a ransomeware attack. Ransomeware is a type of computer virus that corrupts, threatens to destory or locks you out of your school data until a ransome has been paid. Paying the ransome might not result in the safe return of your data and may even identify you as a profitable target for future attacks.

Ransomware attacks can have a devastating impact on organisations, with victims requiring a significant amount of recovery time to reinstate critical services. These events can also be high profile in nature, with wide public and media interest. 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 NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre) has produced a number of practical resources to help schools and other educational institutions improve their cyber security. The resources and further guidance can be found in this week's updated guidance.