A suspected cyber-security attack at a school in the Darlington area had led to the head teacher alerting parents and guardians.

Hurworth Comprehensive School sent out a letter addressing the “IT disruption” and said it had begun at the end of the previous school term.

It has transpired that the school experiences a cyber-security incident whereby an unauthorised third party temporarily gained access to the school’s system.

The school’s head, Rachel Somerville, said that as a result of the school’s IT team’s quick response, the “suspicious activity” was successfully contained.

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A letter was addressed on Wednesday, January 4.

It read: “Dear Parent/Carer,

“I am writing to give you an update on the IT disruption which started towards the previous school term, and which your child (/children) might have already mentioned to you.

“As you know, we firmly in the importance of openness and importance at Hurworth School, and so with the new school term about to start, I wanted to share what we know so far, despite not having all the answers just yet.

“From awareness of the IT disruption, and even since the end of last term, our IT team have been working tirelessly to understand what happened, and we can now confirm, that we have experienced a cyber-security incident whereby an unauthorised third party temporarily gained access to our systems. Our understanding is that their motivation is financially driven, by causing the IT disruption in an attempt to extort us, not least because doing so would not align with our ethical values.

“I appreciate that this update may cause some concern to you and/or your child (/children), so I want to assure you that we are taking this extremely seriously and working alongside external forensic specialists to investigate. As a result of our IT team’s quick response, the suspicious activity has been successfully contained, and the process of getting our systems back up and running occurred immediately.

“Our investigation is still in the early stages, but a key priority for us throughout the investigation is, determining is there has been any potential impact on your child, (and/or your children’s data), and we will be in touch directly with anyone who needs to take any particular action once our investigation has concluded, and it is appropriate for us to do so. As ever, we recommend you stay vigilant to unusual contact being made (by phone, email etc).

“We have never experienced an incident such as this, but our IT team have reacted very quickly, and are working round the clock to minimise any impact to teaching and learning when school returns. As you will no doubt be aware, cyber security incidents are an unfortunate part of the world we live in, and no organisation can completely eliminate the risks of these kind of incidents. We are doing everything we can to get back up and running as quickly as possible.

“In the meantime, there may be some residual disruption when we resume the school term, which I can update which I can update you and/or your child (/children) about further, as appropriate.

“Finally, I also want to thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. If you have any questions in light of this update please do get in contact via enquiries@hurworth.swiftacademies.org.uk”

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