A computer screen with computer code. The word cyber attack in red in amongst the code

Cyber attack on a University

During February there have been a number of attacks reported on Universities in the UK.  There were reports of hackers attacking the universities of Cambridge, Manchester and Wolverhampton.  Systems were affected at all sites.  The disruption is the latest reported attack by Anonymous Sudan.  It is thought the attacks are related to the UK's support of Israel in the Gaza conflict.

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Cyber Attack on a School

The Misbourne School in Great Missenden had to partially shutdown in January due to a cyber attack.  The attack significantly affected its infrastructure and operations.

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Major cyber-criminal gang Lockbit brought down by UK Law Enforcement

The NCA (National Crime Agency) has infiltrated systems belonging to LockBit - the UK has led an operation to disrupt what is thought to be the world's largest criminal ransomware group.  For the last four years, the LockBit group has been hacking into thousands of businesses, schools and medical facilities around the world.

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A mobile phone with lots of apps held in a hand.  The word fake in navy on an orange background.  Data Protection Education logo

Why Due Diligence is Important: Fake apps

We recommend completing due diligence on any third party suppliers that you share personal data with.  We recommend that you do this BEFORE purchasing, installing and using the product to share information.  Our Knowledge Bank platform has a Supplier Due Diligence Best Practice area to help with this and lists many suppliers that we have done some generic risk assessments on.  Ensuring due diligence is part of your procurement process for apps means that someone is less likely to

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Safer Internet Day in blue text, Tuesday 6 February 2024 in orange text, saferinternetday.org.uk in black text

Safer Internet Day 2024

We couldn't let today go by without mentioning Safer Internet Day when so many of our customers are schools and trusts.  Educators, social workers and other professionals working with children and young people play a key role in supporting children to learn about how to stay safe online.

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Data breach in orange text on a computer screen with computer text in blue

Kent Councils Data Breach

The ICO has confirmed a data breach from Kent councils.  The breach was reported by three Kent councils who share the same IT support provider.  Canterbury, Dover and Thanet councils continue to be hampered by the disruptions of onlines services following a cyber incident.

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Girl smilitng, children working, some children working on a laptop. Text says Meeting Digital Standards in Schools and Colleges

Free cyber training for staff

Did you know that annual cyber security training for school staff is a requirement in the DfE Digital Standards for Schools and Colleges Cyber Security Standards Document?

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Meeting DfE Digital standards in schools and colleges in orange and white text. Children in the background smiling or working. Children in a small circle graphic on laptops.  Data Protection Education logo in blue on an orange background

DfE Digital Standards Update

The DfE have recently published an update to their meeting digital and technology standards in schools and colleges, with three new sections:
Digital Accessibility Standards
Digital Leadership and Governance Standards
Laptop, desktop and tablet standards

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Data breach in orange text on a computer screen with computer data behind it

The Mother of all Breaches

Security researchers and computing blogs are reporting 'the mother of all breaches' in reference to a data breach where billions of records have been breached.  The dataset doesn't come from one single breach but a compilation of multiple data breaches.  

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Data breach in orange text in computing font on a computer screen with computer code in blue text

ClassCharts Possible Data Breach

A number of schools have reported a data breach by ClassCharts this week.  ClassCharts is school management software that allows teachers to create a customisable classroom seating chart.  It can also be used to track student behaviour, reading levels and other student data.

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Black and white server room with Data Protection education in blue writing on one of the doors.

Where is your data stored?

Understanding where your data is stored is crucial for both records management (data retention) and retrieving personal data in cases of Subject Access Requests.  This article looks at where Microsoft 365 stores it's data.

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Robot wearing an orange hoodie holding a piece of paper with the words Data Protection education is transparent text

IAPP looks at AI privacy risks

This week the IAPP published a set of AI privacy risks in the wake of concerns over how AI should be regulated.  There are moves to regulate AI, such as the EU AI Act, however  because AI remains quite an unknown quantity, there is a lot of unease and uncertainty around it's use, ethics, privacy and intellectual property.

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hand holding a mobile phone with social media icons on it. Litus Digital logo and Data Protection Education logo. Guardians of Privacy: Navigating social media in educational settings in blue text.  A series of articles about social media, privacy and schools in black text.  Coloured pencils at the bottom

Guardians of Privacy: 16. Social Media Checklist

This article is one of a series written by Data Protection Education in collaboration with Litus Digital, a social media management company.  The articles came about from questions asked by Data Protection Education's customers, our own experience of working in education,  as school governors, parents and data protection professionals.  The articles raise questions about how social media can be used as safely as possible in a school environment,  security consideratio

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Guardians of Privacy: 15. Navigating Social Media in Educational Settings Summary

This article is one of a series written by Data Protection Education in collaboration with Litus Digital, a social media management company.  The articles came about from questions asked by Data Protection Education's customers, our own experience of working in education,  as school governors, parents and data protection professionals.  The articles raise questions about how social media can be used as safely as possible in a school environment,  security consideratio

Read more …

hand holding a mobile phone with social media icons on it. Litus Digital logo and Data Protection Education logo. Guardians of Privacy: Navigating social media in educational settings in blue text.  A series of articles about social media, privacy and schools in black text.  Coloured pencils at the bottom

Guardians of Privacy: 14. Social Media and Cyber Bullying

This article is one of a series written by Data Protection Education in collaboration with Litus Digital, a social media management company.  The articles came about from questions asked by Data Protection Education's customers, our own experience of working in education,  as school governors, parents and data protection professionals.  The articles raise questions about how social media can be used as safely as possible in a school environment,  security consideratio

Read more …

hand holding a mobile phone with social media icons on it. Litus Digital logo and Data Protection Education logo. Guardians of Privacy: Navigating social media in educational settings in blue text.  A series of articles about social media, privacy and schools in black text.  Coloured pencils at the bottom

Guardians of Privacy: 13. Social Media, Copyright and Intellectual Property

This article is one of a series written by Data Protection Education in collaboration with Litus Digital, a social media management company.  The articles came about from questions asked by Data Protection Education's customers, our own experience of working in education,  as school governors, parents and data protection professionals.  The articles raise questions about how social media can be used as safely as possible in a school environment,  security consideratio

Read more …

hand holding a mobile phone with social media icons on it. Litus Digital logo and Data Protection Education logo. Guardians of Privacy: Navigating social media in educational settings in blue text.  A series of articles about social media, privacy and schools in black text.  Coloured pencils at the bottom

Guardians of Privacy: 12. Social Media and Going Viral

This article is one of a series written by Data Protection Education in collaboration with Litus Digital, a social media management company.  The articles came about from questions asked by Data Protection Education's customers, our own experience of working in education,  as school governors, parents and data protection professionals.  The articles raise questions about how social media can be used as safely as possible in a school environment,  security consideratio

Read more …

hand holding a mobile phone with social media icons on it. Litus Digital logo and Data Protection Education logo. Guardians of Privacy: Navigating social media in educational settings in blue text.  A series of articles about social media, privacy and schools in black text.  Coloured pencils at the bottom

Guardians of Privacy: 11. Staff Social Media Accounts

This article is one of a series written by Data Protection Education in collaboration with Litus Digital, a social media management company.  The articles came about from questions asked by Data Protection Education's customers, our own experience of working in education,  as school governors, parents and data protection professionals.  The articles raise questions about how social media can be used as safely as possible in a school environment,  security consideratio

Read more …

hand holding a mobile phone with social media icons on it. Litus Digital logo and Data Protection Education logo. Guardians of Privacy: Navigating social media in educational settings in blue text.  A series of articles about social media, privacy and schools in black text.  Coloured pencils at the bottom

Guardians of Privacy: 10. Social Media and Cookies

This article is one of a series written by Data Protection Education in collaboration with Litus Digital, a social media management company.  The articles came about from questions asked by Data Protection Education's customers, our own experience of working in education,  as school governors, parents and data protection professionals.  The articles raise questions about how social media can be used as safely as possible in a school environment,  security consideratio

Read more …

hand holding a mobile phone with social media icons on it. Litus Digital logo and Data Protection Education logo. Guardians of Privacy: Navigating social media in educational settings in blue text.  A series of articles about social media, privacy and schools in black text.  Coloured pencils at the bottom

Guardians of Privacy: 9. Social Media and Morality

This article is one of a series written by Data Protection Education in collaboration with Litus Digital, a social media management company.  The articles came about from questions asked by Data Protection Education's customers, our own experience of working in education,  as school governors, parents and data protection professionals.  The articles raise questions about how social media can be used as safely as possible in a school environment,  security consideratio

Read more …

  1. New Resources for Schools from the ICO
  2. Guardians of Privacy: 8. Social Media Policies
  3. Guardians of Privacy: 7. Social Media Data Retention
  4. Guardians of Privacy: 6. Posting Safely
  5. Guardians of Privacy: 5. Social Media and Consent
  6. Guardians of Privacy: 4. Social Media Access Control
  7. Guardians of Privacy: 3. Social Media Channels
  8. Guardians of Privacy: 2. Law and Regulations
  9. Guardians of Privacy: 1. Social media, privacy and children
  10. Latest ICO Reprimand. Mr. S. Claus, Chief Executive Officer, North Pole Enterprises
  11. Phishing attacks targeting schools - alert from City of London Police
  12. The Data Protection And Digital Information Bill (DPADI)
  13. The ICO reprimands a Multi Academy Trust
  14. KCSIE: Filtering, Monitoring and Privacy
  15. Guidance for the use of school email and applying email retention in schools
  16. CISA and UK NCSC Announce Joint Guidelines for Secure AI System Development
  17. Data Protection Tips for Early Years Settings
  18. Children's Privacy around the world is a puzzle
  19. Trust Initial Plan Checklist Update
  20. Update on Advisory for Rhysida Ransomware
  21. Records Management Best Practice Update
  22. Governors and Data Best Practice Area Update
  23. The Crime in a Cyber Attack and a Data Breach
  24. What do I need to redact?
  25. NCSC Annual Review is published for 2023
  26. Learning from Data Breaches
  27. Windows 11 security ineffective against attacks on old devices
  28. Trust Initial Plan for Data Protection Compliance (for Multi Academy Trusts)
  29. International Counter Ransomware Initiative 2023 Joint Statement
  30. Google for Education Resources: Helping IT Admins meet DfE digital and technology standards
  31. Resistant Cloud Backups
  32. Top Ten Cyber Security Misconfigurations
  33. Lettings Best Practice and Guidance
  34. ICO Reprimand: company suffered a ransomware attack
  35. The UK Online Safety Bill becomes an Act (Law)
  36. Considerations when migrating to a new MIS
  37. The importance of software updates (PaperCut vulnerability and Rhysida ransomware)
  38. Public bodies and sensitive data
  39. Adding offline bulk training using the Certificates function
  40. Ransomware, extortion and the cyber crime ecosystem
  41. Get a DPE Badge for your website!
  42. ICO: 10 Step guide to sharing information to safeguard children
  43. Schools under Cyber Attack: September 2023
  44. Cyber Resource: The Cyber Resilience Centre Group
  45. Email and Security: ICO recent guidance
  46. Help after a Cyber Attack/Incident
  47. Social Media Policy
  48. Data Protection and Cyber Security (Inset Day) Training Ideas
  49. Changes to Microsoft Free Licensing for Schools
  50. What to do in the event of a Cyber Attack
  51. Cyber Crime: AI Generated Phishing Attacks
  52. Handling Freedom of Information Requests the right way
  53. Cyber Attack: Exam Boards
  54. VICE SOCIETY - Ransomware attacks on schools
  55. Using Tags if you are a group of organisations in the DPE Knowledge Bank
  56. Where's Harry the Hacker?
  57. Be Cyber Aware: USB Sticks
  58. Cyber Insurance in the Public Sector
  59. Types of Cyber Attacks: DDos Attack (Microsoft DDoS Attack in June)
  60. Cyber Attack: Manchester University
  61. Cyber Attack: Leytonstone School
  62. The ICO Reprimands a school
  63. Be Cyber Aware: Firewalls
  64. Subject Access Requests (SARs)
  65. Be Cyber Aware: Cyber attacks and transparency. A no blame culture
  66. Cyber Attack: Dorchester School
  67. Knowledge Bank Role Types: Admin, Staff and Trustee
  68. Types of Cyber Attacks: Password Attacks
  69. Be Cyber Aware: Why regular software updates are important
  70. Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2023
  71. Cyber Attack: Wiltshire School
  72. Keeping your IT systems safe and secure
  73. Types of Cyber Attacks: DDoS Attacks
  74. Types of Cyber Attacks: Phishing
  75. Types of Cyber Attacks: The Insider Threat
  76. Why your data is profitable to cyber criminals
  77. Using WhatsApp in Schools
  78. The Changes to Data Protection in the UK
  79. Knowledge Bank Updates
  80. Types of malware and how they are linked to data protection
  81. Striking Data Breach
  82. Windows Server 2012 & 2012 R2 Retirement
  83. How to contact us for support, subject access requests, data breaches and FOI's
  84. YouTube breached child protection laws
  85. How a school fought back after a cyberattack
  86. Types of Cyber Attacks - Credential Stuffing
  87. January Cyber update - How Can Schools Help Prevent Cyber Attacks?
  88. End of Windows 8.1 Support
  89. Assigning courses to staff using to-dos
  90. How the Record of Processing Can Help You
  91. Information Security Basics: What are VPN's?
  92. What does a Data Protection Officer Do?
  93. Are you ready for a Data Breach?
  94. Blog: Best Practice on the Retention of Child Protection Information
  95. Carrying out Supplier Due Diligence
  96. Email and retention periods
  97. How Long Should You Keep Personal Data For?
  98. The Education sector now at highest risk of cyber attacks
  99. How to Assess your Data Security
  100. Schools Blocked from Using Facial Recognition Systems
  101. Sharing this year’s Nativity play online
  102. The Children's Code
  103. B&H FoI: Racist/religious incidents/bullying
  104. Cyber Attacks
  105. Protocol for Setting Up and Delivery of Online Teaching and Learning
  106. Class Dojo International Data Sharing
  107. Model Publication Scheme: Amendments, Improvements and Updates
  108. Child friendly privacy notices
  109. Transparency
  110. Parents and students covertly recording conversations
  111. SAR? ER? FOI?
  112. Secure file transfer of files using Royal Mail
  113. Emergency contacts and consent
  114. Key elements of a successful DPIA
  115. FOI Publication Schemes
  116. SHARE: Avoid disinformation online
  117. Best Practice for Managing Photos and Video
  118. New Drip Feeds: Recognise and Respond to Subject Access Request
  119. When to contact the Data Protection Officer?
  120. National child measurement programme
  121. Make sure DPE is your registered DPO with the ICO
  122. Compliance Manager released
  123. Headteacher fined for breach of data protection legislation
  124. Emails – good practice and minimising the risk of a data breach

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