Wymondham College, the UK’s largest state boarding school, has been hit by a sophisticated cyberattack, becoming the latest educational establishment in the country to suffer a cyber incident. The nature of the attack has not been disclosed, and the school did not say whether it had received a ransom demand.
It has said it has not detected any data breach, but some files and resources have been impacted. Wymondham College is working with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to respond to the incident, which has also been reported to the Department for Education.
The school is aiming to continue with its educational provision, but disruption is expected over the next few weeks.
Moreover, NCSC has been warning schools about an increase in ransomware attacks since September 2020, with the alert page updated several times since then in response to further ransomware attacks.
The cybercrime group Vice Society has been responsible for targeting educational establishments in the UK and elsewhere, extorting victims by stealing sensitive data and threatening to release it unless a ransom is paid. Hive ransomware group demanded £500,000 ($608,000) from two schools in England last year.
Ransomware attacks have also affected US educational institutions, including the Los Angeles Unified School District, and systems in Iowa and Massachusetts.
Concern over the scale of the threat has led a joint committee of UK lawmakers to hold an inquiry into whether the UK’s national security strategy is effectively addressing the risks posed by ransomware.
Last November, the majority of the UK government’s crisis management meetings focused on ransomware incidents rather than other emergencies
