Edinburgh schools cyber attack: Council says no data was compromised as pupils reset their passwords in school

On Friday afternoon, Friday, May 9, the City of Edinburgh Council noticed some unusual e-mail activity on its schools and early years IT network, and as a precautionary measure it reset passwords across its schools and early years network - including those of students.

All secondary schools were open yesterday morning, Saturday, May 10, to allow students who had exams early next week to attend in person to obtain a new password.

School students in Edinburgh were locked out of key learning resources following the cyber attack. PIC: pexels.com | pexels.com

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Education, Children and Families Convener Councillor James Dalgleish said: “We saw approximately 2,500 young people attend their secondary schools to reset their passwords– and I’m delighted that our dedicated school staff were on hand to support them and minimise the impact on their exam preparations.

“My thanks once again to our colleagues for their quick thinking and vigilance – without which this could have been far worse – and for their work throughout the weekend to ensure the attack was contained and our networks remain secure and protected.

“Close monitoring will continue over the coming days and we’re keeping the Scottish Government and Police Scotland up-to-date. I’d like to wish all of our students sitting exams in the coming days and weeks the very best of luck.”