An external cybersecurity company was completing a forensic investigation, but there is no further information about the data breach.
Who are BlackSuit?
It is now known that the ransomware gang, BlackSuit has claimed the attack on the school where it alleges to have stolen over 200GB of data which includes information on students and employees, as well as financial data. BlackSuit seems to have carried out a double-extortion attack by encrypting systems and stealing data.BlackSuit first emerged in April 2023 and is a rebrand of the ransomware group, Royal. BlackSuit is a private operation and doesn’t employ a ransomware-as-a-service business model.
Located in Biggin Hill, Kent, Charles Darwin School is home to around 1,320 secondary and sixth form students. The school is part of the Inicio Educational Trust which was formed in September 2023.
Sources of information: Comparitech and The Record
Improving Cyber Resilience
We would urge all schools and multi academy trusts to work on their cyber resilience, firstly by training their staff and making cyber awareness part of the organisation's ethos. Secondly, we would recommend reviewing the DfE Digital Standards. Our customers have access to a free Leadership & Governance Tracker to assess where you are with your digital strategy and Cyber Security Best Practice Area. If you would like access to this and other trackers, further information can be viewed:
What to do in the event of a Cyber Attack
Tell someone! Report to IT. Report to SLT.Unplug the computer from the internet by removing the ethernet cable or turning the Wi-Fi off. Isolate the infected device and pass to IT
If you are a victim of a ransomware attack we would recommend reporting this to:
Action Fraud: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/ as well as your data protection officer so they can advise about the data loss or your local police and ask for the cyber crime team or phone 101 and ask for the cyber crime team.
Most cyber crimes like these will also need to be reported to the ICO by your data protection officer. Our customers should email
These incidents should also be reported to the DfE sector cyber team at
Academy trusts have to report these attacks to ESFA.
Where the incident causes long term school closure, the closure of more than 1 school or serious financial damage, you should also inform the National Cyber Security Centre.
Always ensure there are backups you can restore from. Preserving evidence is as important as recovering from the crime.
Forward suspicious emails to