Exam revision disrupted as cyber attackers goal Edinburgh council

Pupils in Edinburgh were bring to an end from revision assets forward of key examination dates after an tried cyber assault at the council’s training division.

Staff noticed a suspicious invitation to a gathering previous on Friday and realised it used to be “spear-phishing” – which impersonates a relied on supply.

Parents were despatched texts telling that them scholars’ passwords were reset as a precaution – which means pupils learning for tests don’t recently have get right of entry to to their college’s finding out assets.

The council stated pupils making ready for tests can be given precedence make stronger following what it referred to as a “difficult but necessary” resolution.

It follows a suspected prison ransomware cyberattack on faculties in West Lothian previous this week.

Edinburgh Council’s Education, Children and Families convener James Dalgleish stated workforce noticed “unusual and suspicious activity” at the faculties and early years IT community.

He added: “As a result, we took the precautionary decision to immediately reset passwords for all users across our education service.

“I absolutely respect the have an effect on this may have, in particular on the ones scholars making ready for his or her tests subsequent week – however, sadly, we had no selection. This used to be a hard however important resolution to make sure our networks stay protected and safe.”

The council said no data had been compromised by the attempted attack.

Exams began on Friday 25 April with key dates in the coming week, including the Higher maths exam on Monday.

Pupils have been told they can access their personal revision materials by going to their school on Saturday between 10:15 and midday.

A member of workforce will factor them with a brand new password, whilst a web based lend a hand web page has been arrange by means of the council.

The council has given an assurance that students currently sitting exams will be given priority support.

Spear-phishing usually differs from typical phishing attacks by being more focused, as opposed to the quantity of targets a usual phishing message will be sent to.

Messages in spear-phishing can be more personalised, in an attempt to trick the victim into believing it is from a genuine contact.

Tech firms like Twitter, now X, have been attacked by way of spear-phishing up to now.

Students in Edinburgh use council-provided iPads, as a part of the native authority’s Empowered Learning programme.

West Lothian Council had to resort to contingency measures to keep schools open earlier this week after the local authority’s education network was attacked.

A spokesperson for the council said there was no evidence any personal or sensitive data had been accessed in the attack.

Ransomware is one of those malware which prevents any individual from getting access to a tool and the information saved on it, in most cases by means of encrypting recordsdata, in step with the National Cyber Security Centre.