A cyberattack has resulted in 15 schools in the United Kingdom being unable to provide their students with online lessons.
The schools, based in Nottinghamshire, are part of the Nova Education Trust.
As local channel NottinghamshireLive, many of the schools reported issues on social media, while they were forced to shut down systems after suffering a cyberattack.
According to Nova Education Trust, a malicious actor was able to gain access to the central network infrastructure and while an investigation was conducted, all means of communication, such as phones, emails and the website, had to be taken out of service.
Children in the UK are still taking online lessons due to the pandemic. Schools are due to reopen on March 8, but in the meantime, only a small number of children are attending school regularly, including the children of key workers.
The 15 schools affected by the cybersecurity incident were unable to provide standard remote teaching and teachers were unable to upload educational materials to the platform. However, some of the schools have turned to SMS messages, temporary phone calls and Microsoft Teams to try to minimize class disruption.
IT teams are still working to restore the cooperative's systems. Although it is not known who is responsible for the cyberattack, the incident highlights how central IT infrastructures, when they fall victim to such attacks, can affect all the other institutions that rely on them.
“The incident has been reported to the Department for Education and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), and the trust is currently working with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and other security professionals to resolve the matter,” Nova Education Trust said. “All staff at the trust have been advised to take the necessary precautions.”
