Schools across Lancashire have been hit by a cyberattack, affecting the majority of their computer systems.
Dean Logan, CEO of the UK-based Fylde Coast Academy Trust, confirmed that the Blackpool-based trust had fallen victim to ransomware, which compromised the organisation’s IT infrastructure and severely limited system accessibility.
“Within hours of the attack, the trust was in receipt of support from the government‘s risk protection arrangements and a cybersecurity team was engaged to support the trust recovery plan,” said Mr Logan.
“It will take a number of days before services start to be restored and the full impact is understood.”
During this time the trust reverted to non-IT based processes to meet statutory and regulatory duties and quickly acted to mitigate the reduced functionality in classrooms with the use of mobile networks.
“Our focus remains in providing the highest possible care and education for pupils during this recovery,” said Mr Logan.
“Leaders, teachers, support staff and pupils have responded very positively and with resilience. The skills and knowledge learnt during the Covid 19 pandemic have provided reassurance and confidence in dealing with this challenge.”
Telephone lines were quickly reestablished but with reduced capacity.
“We will keep all stakeholders updated as systems are restored, priority will be given to core services first,” said Mr Logan
“Advice and guidance is being provided and shared with staff, pupils and parents/carers actively as we receive it. We expect to see restoration of key services start next week. However, full restoration will take a number of weeks to ensure the ransomware is completely removed.
“We are very grateful to the support being received, the offers of support from the local authority, other school trusts as well as our school communities who are all pulling together to beat this challenge.”
Dr. Darren Williams, CEO and Founder, Blackfog, said: “The term ‘Back-to-school’ is not only a source of anxiety for children returning from their summer break, but also for education officials who are facing more cybersecurity challenges than ever before.
“With yet another set of schools falling victim to ransomware, the weaknesses and shortcomings of the traditional cybersecurity tools that many organisations continue to rely on are becoming increasingly apparent. In this instance, all 10 schools in the Blackpool trust have been forced to revert to manual processes as a result of the attack.
“Unfortunately education continues to top the ransomware leaderboard, with August showing a 12% increase over the previous month. There is an urgent need for government to invest in more advanced cybersecurity technologies within this sector, to keep pace with the rapidly evolving tactics used by attackers and to protect sensitive student data.”
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