It has been reported that Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester, UK, has been the target of a cyberattack, having had its screens and systems locked.
It said the attack was accompanied by a ransom demand, payable on the Dark Web.
The school, which has more than 2,000 pupils, said it would not be paying the ransom and was working with the National Cyber Security Centre and police to resolve the issue.
Martin Jartelius, CSO at Outpost24, commented on the news: “The best incident is one that never happens. To avoid ransomware attacks it’s vital to secure the most common venues of attack — outdated systems, end-user credentials and access control — of course this advice is too little too late in this instance.
“For the Thomas Hardye School, the best scenario at this point is a kickout and a restore. Of course a school is crippled by lacking its functionality, but it is a human-intensive business and should, provided some Business Continuity planning is in place, be able to keep operating with core values while a secure connection is re-established.
“The decision not to pay the ransom is commendable. Payment is what keeps the criminal ecosystem going and while it’s very hard to judge someone who is forced to pay to save their life’s work, whenever possible NOT paying is preferable for both yourself but also society as a whole.”
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