Schools risk “losing students’ coursework” over weak cybersecurity, Ofqual has warned as data shows more than four in 10 teachers said their school or college experienced a cyber incident in the last academic year.
More than one in three secondary teachers also said they had not had cybersecurity training this year, according to a Teacher Tapp poll commissioned by the exams regulator.
The warning comes after the National Cyber Security Centre last year said that schools are at “particular risk” of being targeted by cybercriminals.
Ofqual’s executive director of general qualifications Amanda Swann said schools should visit the National Cyber Security Centre’s school resource guide “to learn how to defend against cyberattacks”.
Lost coursework ‘every student’s nightmare’
She added: “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 cybersecurity on a school or college IT system.”
Ms Swann said that many settings take cybersecurity seriously, but the Teacher Tapp poll showed “there is more to be done”.
Of the more than 5,000 teachers polled, 22 per cent said their school or college had experienced a cybersecurity incident due to a phishing attack.
The North West was hit hardest, according to the poll, with four in 10 teachers in the region reporting their school or college had been the victim of a cyber incident, compared with 28 per cent in the East of England.
And 20 per cent said the school could not recover immediately after being attacked, with 4 per cent taking more than half a term to recover.
Some 9 per cent of headteachers said the attack on their school or college had been critically damaging.
One teacher who experienced a cyber incident last summer told Ofqual that the event caused “utter chaos” and left staff “unable to access anything” or prepare for the year.
Another teacher said: “[It] caused a dip in belief about the security of our systems and led to difficult conversations with parents.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Helping schools to improve their cybersecurity and resilience is crucial, which is why we are supporting the sector to ensure compliance with our new digital standards.”
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