Schools reminded to maintain cyber hygiene by Ofqual

Ofqual is reminding schools and colleges of the importance of cyber security after a poll highlighted the risks associated with poor cyber hygiene. 

Cyber hygiene refers to procedures and practices that schools and individuals should use to make sure devices, systems and networks are protected from cyber threats.

The prompt comes as a Teacher Tapp survey found one in three secondary teachers did not have cyber security training in the last academic year. 

The poll found that 34 per cent of schools and colleges in England experienced a cyber incident during the last academic year. 

As well as this, 23 per cent of them experienced a cyber security incident due to a phishing attack. 

The north-west was hit hardest, with 40 per cent of schools which responded having had a cyber incident, compared with 28 per cent in the east.

Ofqual’s executive director of General Qualifications Amanda Swann said: "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. 

"Many schools and colleges take cyber security seriously, but this poll highlights that there is more to be done. I would encourage schools and colleges to visit the National Cyber Security Centre’s school resource guide to learn how to defend against cyber attacks."

Four per cent of schools and colleges took more than half a term to recover from their cyber attack, and 20 per cent could not recover immediately.

Worringly, nine per cent of headteachers said the attack was critically damaging.

You can find tips on cyber hygiene for schools and colleges here.