Southville Primary School in Bristol has been hit by a targeted cyber-attack, with records exported from its management information system. Parents and carers were told on Tuesday afternoon, and the breach has been reported to the ICO. What type of information was taken hasn’t been disclosed.
Bristol City Council believes the same criminals behind September’s attack on its Schools IT network are responsible, though that is unconfirmed and Southville is being investigated separately. The two systems are not connected — school management information systems don’t sit on the Schools IT network, so Southville shouldn’t have been exposed by the earlier breach. The council, specialist cyber security experts, and the Regional Organised Crime Unit are investigating both incidents and any link between them.
That earlier attack started with suspicious activity on September 21 and led the council to disconnect 88 schools from the internet on September 25. As of Wednesday evening, 84 had limited access back, including all 39 schools the council’s IT service supports directly. The council has found no evidence of a mass data export from that network.
John Curry, reader in cyber security at Bath Spa University, called the possible connection curious and questioned why hackers appear to be targeting Bristol. Once inside one school, he said, attackers pivot to the next — using what they learn to email another school posing as a headteacher.
Source: BBC News
