New Delhi: A new poll in the United Kingdom has found that 1 in 3 teachers did not have any cyber security training in the last academic year putting schools and colleges at risk of major cyber attacks. The Teacher Tapp survey highlighted the risks of such inadequacy, a UK government release stated.
The report found that 34% of schools and colleges experienced a cyber incident during the last academic year, 23% of which were due to phishing attacks. The north-west was hit hardest, with 40% of schools which responded having had a cyber incident, compared with 28% in the east of England, the release added.
Ofqual’s Executive Director of General Qualifications Amanda Swann said, “Losing coursework that is the result of many hours of hard work is every student’s nightmare. Even more distressing is losing a whole class or year group’s coursework because of weak cyber security on a school or college IT system.”
“Many schools and colleges take cyber security seriously, but this poll highlights that there is more to be done. I would encourage schools and colleges to visit the National Cyber Security Centre’s school resource guide to learn how to defend against cyber attacks,” she added.
The poll also found that 20% of schools could not recover immediately from the attack, with 4% taking more than half a term to recover. A further 9% of headteachers said that the attack was critically damaging.