Hackers have obtained about 607,000 records in a cyber-attack on the Department for Education (DfE) in England.<\/b><\/p>\n
The data taken includes telephone numbers and email addresses relating to individuals and organisations but does not include bank details or other sensitive information.<\/p>\n
The DfE confirmed the incident and said it is working closely with the National Cyber Security Centre and the National Crime Agency (NCA).<\/p>\n
The data protection risk to individuals is not considered high and it is understood the attack was contained quickly.<\/p>\n
The Turing Scheme portal – a programme providing funding for international education – and the DfE online help desk have both been affected, but are expected to be operating normally later this week.<\/p>\n
The DfE has referred itself to the Information Commissioner’s Office.<\/p>\n
“We have robust processes in place to protect information and took swift action to contain this incident”, a DfE spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
“The information involved is limited to customer service contact details relating to individuals and organisations. No other data has been accessed”.<\/p>\n
It stressed the 607,000 figure relates to the total number of records affected, not individuals.<\/p>\n
An NCA spokesperson said: “We are aware of an incident affecting the Department for Education and are working with partners to understand the circumstances and impact.”<\/p>\n
Cyber incidents within the education sector are becoming more frequent.<\/p>\n
Around a quarter of further education institutions (24%) reported experiencing a breach or attack at least weekly\u00a0according to the government’s most recent Cyber Security Breaches Survey.<\/a><\/p>\n And more than half of schools have reported an attack or breach in the last year.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"