Checklists in navy text by Data Protection Education. Data Protection Services badge.  The DPE Knowledge Bank on a laptop screen

Product Focus on Checklists : FOI

All of our customers have access to the DPE Knowledge Bank which has a Best Practice Checklist area.  Each checklist is designed to help you walk through all aspects of data protection.

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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 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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: 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

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

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