Cyber attack forces council to shut off internet at every school across Inverclyde

INTERNET access was shut off at schools and nurseries across Inverclyde today after a cyber attack compromised the account of a senior member of the council's education staff.

Schools were taken offline on Monday to allow Inverclyde Council to investigate a fraudulent email which was sent from the email address of a member of staff.

The Telegraph understands that an email purporting to be from the head teacher of St Mary’s Primary School in Greenock which was sent out to parents was found to be a phishing scam.

The email, headed ‘St Mary’s Primary School: Participants Approval’, contained a PDF file which included a link to a website.

St Mary's Primary School (Image: George Munro)

The website, although branded with the St Mary’s logo and statement of values, was found to be fake.

The Telegraph understands that Inverclyde Council activated its incident response plans as a precautionary measure, and schools were taken offline while an investigation was carried out.

Schools and early years centres were not able to access emails and parents were advised that there may be some difficulties in accessing the pre-order app for lunches.

A warning was later sent to those who received the email, advising them not to click the link, and if they had clicked the link, not to enter any details.

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If any details were entered, they were urged to change their password immediately and their IT support team if required.

An Inverclyde Council spokesperson confirmed incidents had occurred.

They added: “We have experienced cyber incidents which include an education user account being compromised.

“We continue to work with the relevant authorities and partners.

“We do not believe these incidents to be ransomware attacks.”

The council apologised for any inconvenience caused and thanked people for their continued patience.

Phishing takes the form of unauthorised third parties using legitimate-looking emails or websites to obtain account details.

It is further described as the ‘fraudulent practice of sending emails or other messages purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information’.

Paula McEwan, EIS local association secretary for Inverclyde, said: “Pupil accounts and the pupil network were not affected but the staff network was down.

“Teachers are adapting to disruption in learning all the time and always find ways around it.

“Online learning is just one of the tools in a teacher’s toolkit and there are other avenues they can explore when that’s not available to them.

“Teachers will always find a way to make sure learning is still happening.”

Councillor Jim Clocherty, convener of the council’s education committee, said: “It is a constant battle for our IT department.

“We are constantly telling people to be on their guard.

“We are on high alert, particularly in these circumstances, to make sure we know who we are getting emails from.”