One of the largest trust in London schools, The Harris Federation, has been attacked recently by ransomware operators.
This cyberattack has shut down the IT systems, mail servers and telephone lines at primary and secondary academies everywhere in London.
After knowing about the attack, the UK’s National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) has published an alert about increased computer attacks on schools in the British countryside.
However, according to the cybersecurity analysts, this attack was a disruptive cyberattack on a “chain” of schools in London and the South East.
This attack has left around 37,000 pupils incapable of accessing email, not only but the threat actors has highlighted the vulnerability of educational institutions with the targeted ransomware attacks.
This attack just occurred the day after the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) informed of a spate of such occurrences.
The Ransomware Attack
This incident has occurred on March 27, 2021, and the reports claim that this attack is one of the largest ransomware attacks acknowledged to trick against UK educational organizations.
However, the school trust’s IT professionals have disabled IT systems, which also includes impairing devices provided to students. The cybersecurity researchers affirmed that doing this will prevent the spread of ransomware and further encryption of data.
Moreover, the cybersecurity analysts have also preemptively shut down the trust’s mail server and telephone systems, and now they are currently redirecting incoming calls to mobile devices.
The educational charity, Harris Federation has claimed that in this attack, dozens of schools have been attacked and has affected nearly 40,000 students as we told earlier.
On the other side, the British educational NGO, which has nearly 37,000 students in 50 secondary and primary schools that are located in London and Essex, has also suffered from this ransomware cyberattack, and the school has also pronounced that this attack has affected the systems very badly.
But, currently, it’s not yet clear that what ransomware was used in this attack, as experts are trying their best to know every detail regarding this ransomware and this attack.
Not only this, but even they are also trying to find out the methods used by the operators of this ransomware to infiltrate the school’s network.
Harris Federation is the most advanced string of schools, colleges and universities which have been interrupted by ransomware attacks. While the organization representatives are examining the whole ransomware incident all together with an information security firm, delegates of the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the National Cyber Security Center of Great Britain.
