Schools invited to take part in new cybersecurity schools audit
Schools across the country are being invited to take part in the latest cybersecurity schools audit, carried out by edtech charity, LGfL, and GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
The findings will help inform, shape and improve the UK’s response to cyber security support in education, with the NCSC better able to understand the sector’s needs.
Consisting of multiple-choice questions, the survey should take around five minutes to complete.
The invitation to contribute follows an April report from Jisc detailing the growing volume and changing nature of ransomware attacks in the sector, with more than 100 individual schools affected in the last year.
The last time such an audit took place was in the spring of 2019, when 432 schools participated.
Among its findings was the fact that, while 85% of schools had a cyber security policy or plan, fewer than half included core IT services in their risk register and only 41% had a business continuity plan.
Fewer than half of schools (49%) were confident that they were adequately prepared to deal with a cyber attack.
Although barely a third of schools (35%) trained non-IT staff in cyber security, 92% said they would welcome more cyber security awareness training for staff.
This and other findings from the 2019 cybersecurity schools audit helped the NCSC to shape its free cyber security training, helping school employees manage some of the key cyber threats they were likely to face.
Any parties interested in contributing to the latest audit should click here.
Read more: Major data breach hits hundreds of University of Essex students
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