Edinburgh council cyber attack sees pupils passwords reset

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Edinburgh council cyber attack sees pupils passwords reset

Edinburgh Council says it has been the target of an attempted cyber attack.

Staff in the council’s education department spotted a suspicious invitation to a meeting earlier on Friday and realised it was “spear phishing” – which impersonates a trusted source.

Parents have been sent texts telling that them students’ passwords have been reset as a precaution – meaning pupils studying for exams do not currently have access to their school’s learning resources.

It follows a suspected criminal ransomware cyberattack on schools in West Lothian earlier this week.

In a post on Edinburgh City Council’s website – which the BBC has verified – staff said there was “unusual e-mail activity” on the schools and early years IT network.

They said: “As a precaution, we have had to make the difficult decision to immediately reset all passwords across this network, including those of our students/learners.

“This means that learners studying for exams this weekend do not currently have access to Teams or One Note resources.”

Pupils have been told they can access their personal revision materials by going to their school on Saturday between 10:15 and midday.

A member of staff will issue them with a new password.

Students in Edinburgh use council-provided iPads, as part of the local authority’s

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programme.

The BBC has approached the council for further comment.

West Lothian Council had

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to keep schools open earlier this week after the local authority’s education network was attacked.

A spokesperson for the council said there was no evidence any personal or sensitive data had been accessed in the attack.

Ransomware is a type of malware which prevents someone from accessing a device and the data stored on it, usually by encrypting files, according to the National Cyber Security Centre.

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