WhatsApp icon on a mobile phone, blue text of Freedom of Information. Data Protection Education logo

📲💬 We come across many organisations using WhatsApp as a communication tool with staff regularly and have previously highlighted some of the risks.  The ICO have recently published information about a case where WhatsApp messages had to be included in a Freedom of Information Request.

AI generated image of a key hole overlayed by a finger print on a cyber background. Data protection education logo on the bottom right of the image

🗝️🛡️ In a world where cyber attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, protecting sensitive information and user accounts has never been more critical. Traditional passwords are rapidly being replaced by a more advanced and secure solution: passkeys. This article explores the benefits of passkeys, their role in preventing cyber attacks, and what to do if a system does not yet support them.

photo of a robot hand choosing a Data Protection Education candidate from four photos, of two ladies and two men

🤖🤖 The ICO recently published an overview reports about the use of AI tools in recruitment processes.  While it was recognised that it can offer benefits to employers, it recognises their use can also lead to risks for people and their privacy and information rights.

Photos of early years children on an orange background. Early Years settings in blue text. Data Protection and Cyber security in white text. Data Protection Education logo and website address: www.dataprotection.education

🧸 🚼 As digital technology continues to increase in our educational settings, Early Years settings are increasingly integrating digital tools into their operations.  While this might enhance efficiency and communication, it also raises concerns and challenges about cyber security and data protection.

Photos of different people from different genres in an orange circle. Girl at school in the background. Text says Meeting Digital Standards in Schools and Colleges, Understanding the SLT Digital Lead profile. Data Protection Education logo

👩🏽‍🏫👨🏽‍💻 Since we have been talking to schools and multi academy trusts about the SLT digital lead, there have been a lot of questions about who that should be in the organisation. There’s often an assumption that it should automatically be the IT Manager, technician, or Data Protection Lead.  In this article, we explore the profile of an effective SLT Digital Lead and their critical role in shaping digital strategy, integrating technology into teaching and learning,

 A lady with a head in her hands with computer screens around her.  A cyber incident response plan text.  communication planning. data protection education logo

📢 It's important to be prepared for when a cyber incident happens to you.  Part of that preparation should include having a Cyber Incident Response Plan, and part of that plan should include how to communicate, who does the communication and what they should say.

hands at a laptop with virtual image of a contract popping out of the keyboard. Data protection education logo

📃 A digital technology contracts register is a lit of all the contracts in your organisation with external suppliers for the supply of digital technology products and services.

Meeting Digital Standards in schools and colleges. Children working in school in the background. Data Protection Education logo

🍂 The DfE have published several updates to the DfE Digital Standards, updating the Filtering and Monitoring Standards, the Digital Leadership & Governance Standards and the Broadband Internet Standards for Schools and Colleges. We give our view on what that means and more details about the updates.

  1. Cyber Attack on a Special School
  2. Stealing children's data
  3. What is dark data? (and why does it matter?)
  4. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 31. On the road to cyber essentials
  5. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 24. Backups
  6. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 30. Support
  7. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 29. Admin controls
  8. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 28. Phishing
  9. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 27. Passwords
  10. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 26. Physical Security
  11. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 25. Server Security
  12. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 23. Filtering and Monitoring
  13. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 22. Hardware: Printers
  14. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 21. Hardware: Asset Control
  15. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 20. Hardware: Safe disposal
  16. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 19. Anti-virus/anti-malware
  17. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 18. Regular Updates
  18. Christmas Pre-Holiday Cyber Check!
  19. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 17. Access Control (Users)
  20. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 16. Access Control (Wi-Fi/Network access)
  21. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 15. Access Control (working from home/off site)
  22. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 14. Access Control (MFA)
  23. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 13. Awareness
  24. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 12. Training
  25. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 11. Policies and Procedures
  26. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 10. Assess where you are with cyber security
  27. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 9. A guide for education providers
  28. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 8. How can your organisation prevent Ransomware attacks?
  29. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 7. What does a Ransomware attack on a school look like?
  30. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 6. Cyber Action Plan
  31. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 5. Responsibilities
  32. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 4. What to do in a cyber attack
  33. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 3. Data Security
  34. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 2. Privacy Protection
  35. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 1. Why is cyber security important?
  36. Ofqual highlights the value of cyber security training in schools
  37. Searching for data when you receive a Subject Access Request
  38. Fylde Coast Academy Trust Cyber Attack This Week
  39. Calling all IT leads in schools and mult academy trusts!
  40. Ransomware cyber attack on a school in Bromley
  41. Join Our Social Media Family!
  42. School hit by Cyber Attack
  43. New Academic Year Kick-Off!
  44. New e-learning for 2024
  45. Cyber Security Best Practice Area
  46. DfE Digital Standards for Schools and Colleges Tracker
  47. New Policies, Documents, Letters and Posters page
  48. Schools and Trusts Best Practice Area
  49. The DPE Retention Schedule
  50. Making the Rounds Update (now includes reporting)
  51. ESFA Cyber Essentials Requirement for Colleges from 2024/2025
  52. ICO Reprimands a School
  53. How does the recent global IT outage affect me?
  54. King's speech introduces new bills in relation to cyber security, smart data and digital information
  55. Navigating Privacy at the End of Term , Special Occasions and End of Year
  56. Out of date technology
  57. Data Retention and the Pupil File
  58. Have you assigned your SLT Digital Lead yet?
  59. What's a Cyber Incident and what should we do?
  60. Getting Started with AI (Artificial Intelligence)
  61. Cyber attack on a school during half term
  62. Free short cyber training for staff
  63. UPDATE: The Upcoming Election and The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill
  64. Update to the DfE Digital Cyber Security Standards for Schools and Colleges (May 2024)
  65. The rise of cyber attacks in schools are causing pupils to miss classes
  66. ICO: Learning from the mistakes of others report
  67. Children's mental health data leaked after a cyber attack
  68. Cyber attack on a Trust; the aftermath
  69. School Focus: The Vale Federation | Aylesbury
  70. DfE Dealing with Subject Access Requests (SARs) Guidance
  71. Update to the Guidance on Information Sharing from the DfE
  72. Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024 (Education Institutions)
  73. Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024 (Businesses and Charities)
  74. FOI Requests generated by Artificial Intelligence
  75. Social Media Best Practice Area
  76. Lettings Best Practice Area
  77. Appropriate filtering and monitoring definitions
  78. MFA Bombing - What is it?
  79. Protecting your Social Media Accounts
  80. Why we recommend using checklists
  81. Product Focus on Checklists : Initial Trust Plan
  82. Product Focus on Checklists : End of Term Checklist
  83. Product Focus on Checklists : Information and Cyber Security
  84. Product Focus on Checklists : Social Media
  85. Cyber Incident Review: The Benefits
  86. Product Focus on Checklists : Lettings
  87. Product Focus on Checklists : Record of Processing
  88. Milk Island: The secret location that allows children to view restricted content on Google Maps
  89. Why Data Should Stay Put: Benefits of Keeping Data in Its Original System
  90. Product Focus on Checklists : Data Retention and Destruction
  91. Product Focus on Checklists : Data Migration
  92. Product Focus on Checklists : Biometrics
  93. Product Focus on Checklists : Supplier Due Diligence
  94. Free Cyber help, advice and training with the Cyber Resilience Centres
  95. The Perils of Paper: The Printing Vulnerability
  96. Product Focus on Checklists : FOI
  97. Product Focus on Checklists : Governors and Data
  98. Product Focus on Checklists : DPIA
  99. Product Focus on Checklists : Site Moves
  100. Product Focus on Checklists : Data Breaches
  101. Product Focus on Checklists : Subject Access Requests
  102. Cyber attack on a University
  103. Product Focus on Checklists : Bring your own device
  104. Product Focus on Checklists : Working out of school/offsite
  105. Cyber Attack on a School
  106. Product Focus on Checklists : Redaction
  107. Major cyber-criminal gang Lockbit brought down by UK Law Enforcement
  108. Why Due Diligence is Important: Fake apps
  109. Product Focus on Checklists : CCTV
  110. Product Focus on Checklists : Clear desk
  111. Product Focus on Checklists : Commitment to compliance
  112. Product Focus on Checklists : Photos and video
  113. Product Focus on Checklists : Passwords
  114. Product Focus on Checklists : Information Classification
  115. Safer Internet Day 2024
  116. Kent Councils Data Breach
  117. Free cyber training for staff
  118. DfE Digital Standards Update
  119. The Mother of all Breaches
  120. ClassCharts Possible Data Breach
  121. Where is your data stored?
  122. IAPP looks at AI privacy risks
  123. If you suspect a financial scam .....
  124. Guardians of Privacy: 16. Social Media Checklist
  125. Guardians of Privacy: 15. Navigating Social Media in Educational Settings Summary
  126. Guardians of Privacy: 14. Social Media and Cyber Bullying
  127. Guardians of Privacy: 13. Social Media, Copyright and Intellectual Property
  128. Guardians of Privacy: 12. Social Media and Going Viral
  129. Guardians of Privacy: 11. Staff Social Media Accounts
  130. Guardians of Privacy: 10. Social Media and Cookies
  131. Guardians of Privacy: 9. Social Media and Morality
  132. New Resources for Schools from the ICO
  133. Guardians of Privacy: 8. Social Media Policies
  134. Guardians of Privacy: 7. Social Media Data Retention
  135. Guardians of Privacy: 6. Posting Safely
  136. Guardians of Privacy: 5. Social Media and Consent
  137. Guardians of Privacy: 4. Social Media Access Control
  138. Guardians of Privacy: 3. Social Media Channels
  139. Guardians of Privacy: 2. Law and Regulations
  140. Guardians of Privacy: 1. Social media, privacy and children
  141. Latest ICO Reprimand. Mr. S. Claus, Chief Executive Officer, North Pole Enterprises
  142. Phishing attacks targeting schools - alert from City of London Police
  143. The Data Protection And Digital Information Bill (DPADI)
  144. The ICO reprimands a Multi Academy Trust
  145. KCSIE: Filtering, Monitoring and Privacy
  146. Guidance for the use of school email and applying email retention in schools
  147. CISA and UK NCSC Announce Joint Guidelines for Secure AI System Development
  148. Data Protection Tips for Early Years Settings
  149. Children's Privacy around the world is a puzzle
  150. Trust Initial Plan Checklist Update
  151. Update on Advisory for Rhysida Ransomware
  152. Records Management Best Practice Update
  153. Governors and Data Best Practice Area Update
  154. The Crime in a Cyber Attack and a Data Breach
  155. What do I need to redact?
  156. NCSC Annual Review is published for 2023
  157. Learning from Data Breaches
  158. Windows 11 security ineffective against attacks on old devices
  159. Trust Initial Plan for Data Protection Compliance (for Multi Academy Trusts)
  160. International Counter Ransomware Initiative 2023 Joint Statement
  161. Google for Education Resources: Helping IT Admins meet DfE digital and technology standards
  162. Resistant Cloud Backups
  163. Top Ten Cyber Security Misconfigurations
  164. Lettings Best Practice and Guidance
  165. ICO Reprimand: company suffered a ransomware attack
  166. The UK Online Safety Bill becomes an Act (Law)
  167. Considerations when migrating to a new MIS
  168. The importance of software updates (PaperCut vulnerability and Rhysida ransomware)
  169. Public bodies and sensitive data
  170. Adding offline bulk training using the Certificates function
  171. Ransomware, extortion and the cyber crime ecosystem
  172. ICO: 10 Step guide to sharing information to safeguard children
  173. Schools under Cyber Attack: September 2023
  174. Cyber Resource: The Cyber Resilience Centre Group
  175. Email and Security: ICO recent guidance
  176. Help after a Cyber Attack/Incident
  177. Social Media Policy
  178. Data Protection and Cyber Security (Inset Day) Training Ideas
  179. Changes to Microsoft Free Licensing for Schools
  180. What to do in the event of a Cyber Attack
  181. Cyber Crime: AI Generated Phishing Attacks
  182. Handling Freedom of Information Requests the right way
  183. Cyber Attack: Exam Boards
  184. VICE SOCIETY - Ransomware attacks on schools
  185. Using Tags if you are a group of organisations in the DPE Knowledge Bank
  186. Where's Harry the Hacker?
  187. Be Cyber Aware: USB Sticks
  188. Cyber Insurance in the Public Sector
  189. Types of Cyber Attacks: DDos Attack (Microsoft DDoS Attack in June)
  190. Cyber Attack: Manchester University
  191. Cyber Attack: Leytonstone School
  192. The ICO Reprimands a school
  193. Be Cyber Aware: Firewalls
  194. Subject Access Requests (SARs)
  195. Be Cyber Aware: Cyber attacks and transparency. A no blame culture
  196. Cyber Attack: Dorchester School
  197. Knowledge Bank Role Types: Admin, Staff and Trustee
  198. Types of Cyber Attacks: Password Attacks
  199. Be Cyber Aware: Why regular software updates are important
  200. Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2023
  201. Cyber Attack: Wiltshire School
  202. Keeping your IT systems safe and secure
  203. Types of Cyber Attacks: DDoS Attacks
  204. Types of Cyber Attacks: Phishing
  205. Types of Cyber Attacks: The Insider Threat
  206. Why your data is profitable to cyber criminals
  207. Using WhatsApp in Schools
  208. The Changes to Data Protection in the UK
  209. Knowledge Bank Updates
  210. Types of malware and how they are linked to data protection
  211. Striking Data Breach
  212. Windows Server 2012 & 2012 R2 Retirement
  213. How to contact us for support, subject access requests, data breaches and FOI's
  214. YouTube breached child protection laws
  215. How a school fought back after a cyberattack
  216. Types of Cyber Attacks - Credential Stuffing
  217. January Cyber update - How Can Schools Help Prevent Cyber Attacks?
  218. End of Windows 8.1 Support
  219. Assigning courses to staff using to-dos
  220. How the Record of Processing Can Help You
  221. Information Security Basics: What are VPN's?
  222. What does a Data Protection Officer Do?
  223. Are you ready for a Data Breach?
  224. Blog: Best Practice on the Retention of Child Protection Information
  225. Carrying out Supplier Due Diligence
  226. Email and retention periods
  227. How Long Should You Keep Personal Data For?
  228. The Education sector now at highest risk of cyber attacks
  229. How to Assess your Data Security
  230. Schools Blocked from Using Facial Recognition Systems
  231. Sharing this year’s Nativity play online
  232. A quick introduction to the Phishing Simulation tool
  233. The Children's Code
  234. Recording vaccination of staff
  235. B&H FoI: Racist/religious incidents/bullying
  236. Cyber Attacks
  237. Protocol for Setting Up and Delivery of Online Teaching and Learning
  238. Class Dojo International Data Sharing
  239. Model Publication Scheme: Amendments, Improvements and Updates
  240. Child friendly privacy notices
  241. Transparency
  242. Parents and students covertly recording conversations
  243. SAR? ER? FOI?
  244. Secure file transfer of files using Royal Mail
  245. Emergency contacts and consent
  246. Key elements of a successful DPIA
  247. FOI Publication Schemes
  248. SHARE: Avoid disinformation online
  249. Best Practice for Managing Photos and Video
  250. New Drip Feeds: Recognise and Respond to Subject Access Request
  251. When to contact the Data Protection Officer?
  252. National child measurement programme
  253. Make sure DPE is your registered DPO with the ICO
  254. Compliance Manager released
  255. Headteacher fined for breach of data protection legislation
  256. Emails – good practice and minimising the risk of a data breach

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