Transparent image of a teacher at the front of a class teaching children.  Robot holding AI in blue letters. Text in blue and black: 83% teacher say AI is a time saver. Data Protection Education logo

🤖🕒 Most meetings we are having with schools at the moment feature conversations and questions around the use of AI by staff in  organisations.  It's clear the landscape is rapidly evolving and education may not be moving as fast, however, it does help to be prepared.

Robot hand pointing to opt out check box. Arbor AI in orange text, On by default in white text. Data Protection Education logo. Blue background

💻 ⚠️Arbor recently announced that it was including some AI as part of it's default configuration - some customers have raised questions about this with us.

Background photo of digital folders around a shield in blue and white. A bag of money in a trolley. Text says procuring a new MIS. Data Protection Education logo

✅📃 An MIS (management information system) is a critical part of the school's day to day operations and digital infrastructure.  They can be on premise or in the cloud, which means contract terms can differ.  We highlight the latest guidance alongside what is already data protection law - you should follow this, even if you are procuring your MIS through your local authority or third party IT provider.

photo of a girl sitting on a stack of books, a camera lens in the background. Navy text: Sharing photos on World Book Day privacy considerations. Data Protection Education logo

📸✅ It's World Book Day on the 6th March when most schools will be celebrating reading and capturing photos of staff and students in their costumes.   Given this is one of many significant photographic events in the calendar, we thought it was a good opportunity to remind everyone of photo and video best practice.

Text: HCRG Data Breach. Photo of a hand coming out of a laptop holding a red key

Some of our customers have been affected by the data breach reported by the HCRG Care Group.  The group is currently investigating claims by a ransomware group that more than two terabytes of sensitive information has been breached.

Black and grey background with white visitor badge with black text: Visitor and Data Protection Education logo on the badge.  How to verify it white text. Visitors in blue text on an orange background.

✅🔍 We visit a lot of schools and have a lot of conversations about documentation we are asked to provide as new and returning visitors to organisations. Sometimes we don't agree with what the organisation is asking for, so we thought we'd give some clarification about regulatory requirements.

blue text a quick guide to: AI in black text. Blue robot dog. Data Protection education logo

🎥🤖  Some of the organisations we are talking to are a little confused about AI, whether they should use it and if their staff already are using it or not.  We've put together a short video explaining the different types of AI, the risks and how you should start documenting your use.

Safer Internet Day official art work, coloured orange and blue text: Safer Internet Day, Cyber Security, Data Protection. Data Protection Education logo

🛡️🔒We couldn't get through today without mentioning it's Safer Internet Day today (11th February).  And while we don't need a special day to talk about being safe online, cyber security and data protection, we welcome any chance to highlight how important they all are.

New ICO data protection fees

Using a statutory instrument on Jan 27th 2025, the Secretary of State for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has increased the data protection fees to be paid by data controllers.
Tier 1 (micro organisations) from £40 to £52; Tier 2 (small and medium organisations) from £60 to £78; Tier 3 (large organisations) from £2,900 to £3,763. This change will come in from February 27th 2025 and will be charged when your payment is next due.

A reminder for

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.

  1. The role of Passkeys in Cyber Resilience and Cyber Security
  2. What the proposed Government legislative proposal around cyber crime means
  3. DPE Webinar Schedule
  4. ICO report on AI tools in recruitment
  5. DfE update to record keeping and management
  6. Update to data sharing for school immunisation programmes
  7. Early Years Settings and Cyber Security
  8. SLT Digital Lead Profile
  9. Ransomware-Resistant Backups
  10. The role of governors in cyber security and data protection
  11. DfE Digital Standards Webinars 2025
  12. Navigating Privacy at the End of Term , Special Occasions and End of Year
  13. Effectively communicating during a cyber incident
  14. Contracts Register
  15. South East Technological University has experienced a cyber incident
  16. Safeguarding Identity in Microsoft 365: Protecting the UK Education Sector Against Cyber Threats
  17. DfE Digital Standards Autumn Update
  18. The importance of knowing how to access your CCTV footage!
  19. Cyber Attack on a Special School
  20. Stealing children's data
  21. What is dark data? (and why does it matter?)
  22. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 31. On the road to cyber essentials
  23. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 24. Backups
  24. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 30. Support
  25. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 29. Admin controls
  26. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 28. Phishing
  27. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 27. Passwords
  28. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 26. Physical Security
  29. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 25. Server Security
  30. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 23. Filtering and Monitoring
  31. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 22. Hardware: Printers
  32. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 21. Hardware: Asset Control
  33. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 20. Hardware: Safe disposal
  34. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 19. Anti-virus/anti-malware
  35. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 18. Regular Updates
  36. Christmas Pre-Holiday Cyber Check!
  37. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 17. Access Control (Users)
  38. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 16. Access Control (Wi-Fi/Network access)
  39. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 15. Access Control (working from home/off site)
  40. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 14. Access Control (MFA)
  41. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 13. Awareness
  42. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 12. Training
  43. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 11. Policies and Procedures
  44. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 10. Assess where you are with cyber security
  45. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 9. A guide for education providers
  46. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 8. How can your organisation prevent Ransomware attacks?
  47. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 7. What does a Ransomware attack on a school look like?
  48. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 6. Cyber Action Plan
  49. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 5. Responsibilities
  50. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 4. What to do in a cyber attack
  51. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 3. Data Security
  52. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 2. Privacy Protection
  53. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: 1. Why is cyber security important?
  54. Ofqual highlights the value of cyber security training in schools
  55. Searching for data when you receive a Subject Access Request
  56. Fylde Coast Academy Trust Cyber Attack This Week
  57. Calling all IT leads in schools and mult academy trusts!
  58. Ransomware cyber attack on a school in Bromley
  59. Join Our Social Media Family!
  60. School hit by Cyber Attack
  61. New Academic Year Kick-Off!
  62. New e-learning for 2024
  63. Cyber Security Best Practice Area
  64. DfE Digital Standards for Schools and Colleges Tracker
  65. New Policies, Documents, Letters and Posters page
  66. Schools and Trusts Best Practice Area
  67. The DPE Retention Schedule
  68. Making the Rounds Update (now includes reporting)
  69. ESFA Cyber Essentials Requirement for Colleges from 2024/2025
  70. ICO Reprimands a School
  71. How does the recent global IT outage affect me?
  72. King's speech introduces new bills in relation to cyber security, smart data and digital information
  73. Navigating Privacy at the End of Term , Special Occasions and End of Year
  74. Out of date technology
  75. Data Retention and the Pupil File
  76. Have you assigned your SLT Digital Lead yet?
  77. What's a Cyber Incident and what should we do?
  78. Getting Started with AI (Artificial Intelligence)
  79. Cyber attack on a school during half term
  80. Free short cyber training for staff
  81. UPDATE: The Upcoming Election and The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill
  82. Update to the DfE Digital Cyber Security Standards for Schools and Colleges (May 2024)
  83. The rise of cyber attacks in schools are causing pupils to miss classes
  84. ICO: Learning from the mistakes of others report
  85. Children's mental health data leaked after a cyber attack
  86. Cyber attack on a Trust; the aftermath
  87. School Focus: The Vale Federation | Aylesbury
  88. DfE Dealing with Subject Access Requests (SARs) Guidance
  89. Update to the Guidance on Information Sharing from the DfE
  90. Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024 (Education Institutions)
  91. Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024 (Businesses and Charities)
  92. FOI Requests generated by Artificial Intelligence
  93. Social Media Best Practice Area
  94. Lettings Best Practice Area
  95. Appropriate filtering and monitoring definitions
  96. MFA Bombing - What is it?
  97. Protecting your Social Media Accounts
  98. Why we recommend using checklists
  99. Product Focus on Checklists : Initial Trust Plan
  100. Product Focus on Checklists : End of Term Checklist
  101. Product Focus on Checklists : Information and Cyber Security
  102. Product Focus on Checklists : Social Media
  103. Cyber Incident Review: The Benefits
  104. Product Focus on Checklists : Lettings
  105. Product Focus on Checklists : Record of Processing
  106. Milk Island: The secret location that allows children to view restricted content on Google Maps
  107. Why Data Should Stay Put: Benefits of Keeping Data in Its Original System
  108. Product Focus on Checklists : Data Retention and Destruction
  109. Product Focus on Checklists : Data Migration
  110. Product Focus on Checklists : Biometrics
  111. Product Focus on Checklists : Supplier Due Diligence
  112. Free Cyber help, advice and training with the Cyber Resilience Centres
  113. The Perils of Paper: The Printing Vulnerability
  114. Product Focus on Checklists : FOI
  115. Product Focus on Checklists : Governors and Data
  116. Product Focus on Checklists : DPIA
  117. Product Focus on Checklists : Site Moves
  118. Product Focus on Checklists : Data Breaches
  119. Product Focus on Checklists : Subject Access Requests
  120. Cyber attack on a University
  121. Product Focus on Checklists : Bring your own device
  122. Product Focus on Checklists : Working out of school/offsite
  123. Cyber Attack on a School
  124. Product Focus on Checklists : Redaction
  125. Major cyber-criminal gang Lockbit brought down by UK Law Enforcement
  126. Why Due Diligence is Important: Fake apps
  127. Product Focus on Checklists : CCTV
  128. Product Focus on Checklists : Clear desk
  129. Product Focus on Checklists : Commitment to compliance
  130. Product Focus on Checklists : Photos and video
  131. Product Focus on Checklists : Passwords
  132. Product Focus on Checklists : Information Classification
  133. Safer Internet Day 2024
  134. Kent Councils Data Breach
  135. Free cyber training for staff
  136. DfE Digital Standards Update
  137. The Mother of all Breaches
  138. ClassCharts Possible Data Breach
  139. Where is your data stored?
  140. IAPP looks at AI privacy risks
  141. If you suspect a financial scam .....
  142. Guardians of Privacy: 16. Social Media Checklist
  143. Guardians of Privacy: 15. Navigating Social Media in Educational Settings Summary
  144. Guardians of Privacy: 14. Social Media and Cyber Bullying
  145. Guardians of Privacy: 13. Social Media, Copyright and Intellectual Property
  146. Guardians of Privacy: 12. Social Media and Going Viral
  147. Guardians of Privacy: 11. Staff Social Media Accounts
  148. Guardians of Privacy: 10. Social Media and Cookies
  149. Guardians of Privacy: 9. Social Media and Morality
  150. New Resources for Schools from the ICO
  151. Guardians of Privacy: 8. Social Media Policies
  152. Guardians of Privacy: 7. Social Media Data Retention
  153. Guardians of Privacy: 6. Posting Safely
  154. Guardians of Privacy: 5. Social Media and Consent
  155. Guardians of Privacy: 4. Social Media Access Control
  156. Guardians of Privacy: 3. Social Media Channels
  157. Guardians of Privacy: 2. Law and Regulations
  158. Guardians of Privacy: 1. Social media, privacy and children
  159. Latest ICO Reprimand. Mr. S. Claus, Chief Executive Officer, North Pole Enterprises
  160. Phishing attacks targeting schools - alert from City of London Police
  161. The Data Protection And Digital Information Bill (DPADI)
  162. The ICO reprimands a Multi Academy Trust
  163. KCSIE: Filtering, Monitoring and Privacy
  164. Guidance for the use of school email and applying email retention in schools
  165. CISA and UK NCSC Announce Joint Guidelines for Secure AI System Development
  166. Data Protection Tips for Early Years Settings
  167. Children's Privacy around the world is a puzzle
  168. Trust Initial Plan Checklist Update
  169. Update on Advisory for Rhysida Ransomware
  170. Records Management Best Practice Update
  171. Governors and Data Best Practice Area Update
  172. The Crime in a Cyber Attack and a Data Breach
  173. What do I need to redact?
  174. NCSC Annual Review is published for 2023
  175. Learning from Data Breaches
  176. Windows 11 security ineffective against attacks on old devices
  177. Trust Initial Plan for Data Protection Compliance (for Multi Academy Trusts)
  178. International Counter Ransomware Initiative 2023 Joint Statement
  179. Google for Education Resources: Helping IT Admins meet DfE digital and technology standards
  180. Resistant Cloud Backups
  181. Top Ten Cyber Security Misconfigurations
  182. Lettings Best Practice and Guidance
  183. ICO Reprimand: company suffered a ransomware attack
  184. The UK Online Safety Bill becomes an Act (Law)
  185. Considerations when migrating to a new MIS
  186. The importance of software updates (PaperCut vulnerability and Rhysida ransomware)
  187. Public bodies and sensitive data
  188. Adding offline bulk training using the Certificates function
  189. Ransomware, extortion and the cyber crime ecosystem
  190. ICO: 10 Step guide to sharing information to safeguard children
  191. Schools under Cyber Attack: September 2023
  192. Cyber Resource: The Cyber Resilience Centre Group
  193. Email and Security: ICO recent guidance
  194. Help after a Cyber Attack/Incident
  195. Social Media Policy
  196. Data Protection and Cyber Security (Inset Day) Training Ideas
  197. Changes to Microsoft Free Licensing for Schools
  198. What to do in the event of a Cyber Attack
  199. Cyber Crime: AI Generated Phishing Attacks
  200. Handling Freedom of Information Requests the right way
  201. Cyber Attack: Exam Boards
  202. VICE SOCIETY - Ransomware attacks on schools
  203. Using Tags if you are a group of organisations in the DPE Knowledge Bank
  204. Where's Harry the Hacker?
  205. Be Cyber Aware: USB Sticks
  206. Cyber Insurance in the Public Sector
  207. Types of Cyber Attacks: DDos Attack (Microsoft DDoS Attack in June)
  208. Cyber Attack: Manchester University
  209. Cyber Attack: Leytonstone School
  210. The ICO Reprimands a school
  211. Be Cyber Aware: Firewalls
  212. Subject Access Requests (SARs)
  213. Be Cyber Aware: Cyber attacks and transparency. A no blame culture
  214. Cyber Attack: Dorchester School
  215. Knowledge Bank Role Types: Admin, Staff and Trustee
  216. Types of Cyber Attacks: Password Attacks
  217. Be Cyber Aware: Why regular software updates are important
  218. Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2023
  219. Cyber Attack: Wiltshire School
  220. Keeping your IT systems safe and secure
  221. Types of Cyber Attacks: DDoS Attacks
  222. Types of Cyber Attacks: Phishing
  223. Types of Cyber Attacks: The Insider Threat
  224. Why your data is profitable to cyber criminals
  225. Using WhatsApp in Schools
  226. The Changes to Data Protection in the UK
  227. Knowledge Bank Updates
  228. Types of malware and how they are linked to data protection
  229. Striking Data Breach
  230. Windows Server 2012 & 2012 R2 Retirement
  231. How to contact us for support, subject access requests, data breaches and FOI's
  232. YouTube breached child protection laws
  233. How a school fought back after a cyberattack
  234. Types of Cyber Attacks - Credential Stuffing
  235. January Cyber update - How Can Schools Help Prevent Cyber Attacks?
  236. End of Windows 8.1 Support
  237. Assigning courses to staff using to-dos
  238. How the Record of Processing Can Help You
  239. Information Security Basics: What are VPN's?
  240. What does a Data Protection Officer Do?
  241. Are you ready for a Data Breach?
  242. Blog: Best Practice on the Retention of Child Protection Information
  243. Carrying out Supplier Due Diligence
  244. Email and retention periods
  245. How Long Should You Keep Personal Data For?
  246. The Education sector now at highest risk of cyber attacks
  247. How to Assess your Data Security
  248. Schools Blocked from Using Facial Recognition Systems
  249. Sharing this year’s Nativity play online
  250. A quick introduction to the Phishing Simulation tool
  251. The Children's Code
  252. Recording vaccination of staff
  253. B&H FoI: Racist/religious incidents/bullying
  254. Cyber Attacks
  255. Protocol for Setting Up and Delivery of Online Teaching and Learning
  256. Class Dojo International Data Sharing
  257. Model Publication Scheme: Amendments, Improvements and Updates
  258. Child friendly privacy notices
  259. Transparency
  260. Parents and students covertly recording conversations
  261. SAR? ER? FOI?
  262. Secure file transfer of files using Royal Mail
  263. Emergency contacts and consent
  264. Key elements of a successful DPIA
  265. FOI Publication Schemes
  266. SHARE: Avoid disinformation online
  267. Best Practice for Managing Photos and Video
  268. New Drip Feeds: Recognise and Respond to Subject Access Request
  269. When to contact the Data Protection Officer?
  270. National child measurement programme
  271. Make sure DPE is your registered DPO with the ICO
  272. Compliance Manager released
  273. Headteacher fined for breach of data protection legislation
  274. Emails – good practice and minimising the risk of a data breach

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