Ofqual issues cyber warning over coursework as 1 in 3 secondaries hit

One in three secondaries have been rocked by cyber-attacks in the last year, prompting warnings from the exams regulator that scores of children’s coursework could be lost.

Schools and colleges in the northwest were the hardest hit by the incidents, with some taking more than half a term to recover, an Ofqual-commissioned Teacher Tapp survey found.

A third of secondary teachers also admitted they have not received cyber-security training this year – as one revealed it was “utter chaos” after their school was targeted.

“[It happened] last summer before results days. From then on, all teaching staff were unable to access anything, so could not prepare for the year,” the teacher, who asked to remain anonymous, said.

“When back in school, we could not use the desktops and there were not enough laptops. This went on for weeks and was utter chaos.”

Another teacher told how an incident at their school “caused a dip in belief about the security of our systems and led to difficult conversations with parents”.

‘Critically damaging’ attacks

Thirty-four per cent of the schools that responded to the Teacher Tapp survey, which polled secondaries across England, had experienced a cyber incident over the last academic year.

Most commonly, they (23 per cent) had been hit by phishing attacks. The northwest was the worst-hit, with 40 per cent of schools having cyber problems, compared to 28 per cent in the east of England.

Nine per cent of heads said the attacks were “critically damaging”. Around 20 per cent could not recover immediately, with 4 per cent taking more than half a term.

The survey also revealed that 33 per cent of secondary teachers had not received cyber-security training this year. Of the two-thirds that had training, 66 per cent said it was useful.

Amanda Swann, Ofqual’s executive director of general qualifications, stressed “many schools and colleges take cyber security seriously” but noted “this poll highlights that there is more to be done”.

“Losing coursework that is the result of many hours of hard work is every student’s nightmare. Even more distressing is losing a whole class or year group’s coursework because of weak cyber security on a school or college IT system.”

She is urging teachers and leaders to visit the National Cyber Security Centre’s school resource guide to learn how to defend against cyber-attacks.