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Digital representation of data security, highlighting shared responsibility for cyber threats in schools and trusts.
Information/Cyber Security

Cyber security can look like an IT problem, something for someone else to handle. It isn't. DPE has created as set of resources as a starting point to help you work out, role by role, who is accountable, who does the work, who should be consulted, and who just needs to be kept informed. Almost everyone in a trust or school appears somewhere on that list. That's the whole idea behind this year's theme: don't make it easy for them. Attackers rely on someone assuming it's not their job.

Digital illustration showing data security for schools with physical, technical, and administrative safeguards protecting sensitive information.
Information/Cyber Security

Whether your school's data lives in a server cupboard down the corridor or in the cloud, the same question applies: is it protected from unauthorised access, corruption or theft, throughout its whole lifecycle? Data security combines physical, technical and administrative safeguards, and getting all three right matters more as schools move more of their data off-site.

Professional development for support and supply staff, enhancing their skills through comprehensive training.
Knowledge Bank Updates

Annual data protection training works well for core staff, but it often misses the people who arrive at short notice or whose roles don't look like "data" jobs: supply teachers, cleaners, caretakers and contractors. These staff still see personal data every day, and they share their own with your organisation too. Our new training pack is built for them, including a free Quick Guide for Emergency & Supply Teaching Staff developed with Garth Hill College.

Consultant and school data protection lead discussing compliance during a "making the rounds" audit.
Best Practice Updates

Most organisations will ask us to come and do a data walk at some point, when one of our consultants will visit your site and walk around with your data protection lead.  If you are a DPO Assure customer, it is included as part of your SLA, but it is also possible to purchase a visit from one of our school consultants. 

Understanding "making the rounds" audits, the 12-point compliance framework, and what schools should expect from a report

Graphic announcing "What's New" in the DPE Knowledge Bank, detailing portal updates and
Knowledge Bank Updates

It's been a busy summer behind the scenes of the DPE Knowledge Bank. Alongside the new academic year checklists and cyber alerts you'll have seen in our regular articles, we've been steadily updating of the portal: new courses, new guidance documents, a reorganised menu structure, and upgrades to several of the compliance tools you use every day. Here's a full round-up of what's changed.

Digital graphic displaying a cyber security alert, warning schools about sophisticated payroll fraud and online threats.
Best Practice Updates

Schools across the Thames Valley area are being targeted by criminals attempting to access staff payroll accounts, according to a warning issued by the South East Cyber Crime Unit's Cyber Protect team. In several confirmed cases, the attacks have succeeded, leaving affected staff without their pay after criminals diverted their salaries elsewhere.

Digital graphic symbolizing a cyber attack and data breach at the Department for Education (DfE).
Information/Cyber Security

The Department for Education confirmed that hackers have accessed its internal helpdesk and the Turing Scheme portal, taking more than 600,000 records. Contact details belonging to headteachers, senior school leaders, government officials and university staff were among the data taken, and some of it has since appeared on the dark web.

Understandably, this has caused a lot of anxiety across the sector and, predictably, a lot of speculation. Was this preventable? Should the DfE have done more? Who's to blame?

  1. What School Leaders Need to Know About the DfE's New Cyber Security Hub
  2. A guide to multi-factor authentication
  3. World Password Day
  4. The Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025/2026 - Key Advice for Schools
  5. World Backup Day: Backups - Your Safety Net
  6. Holiday Cheer or Cyber Fear? : Essential Pre-holiday Checks
  7. What is the Stryker cyber attack and why should schools be wary?
  8. DPE Webinar Schedule
  9. Cyber Alert: Surrey and Sussex Schools Targeted by Phishing and Ransomware Attacks
  10. Is your IT Support Provider Compliant?
  11. The Government Cyber Action Plan
  12. Shareable Snippet: Be Cyber Ready
  13. What does the technology in schools survey tell us?
  14. Four London councils hit by cyber attacks - Hackney, Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea, and Hammersmith & Fulham
  15. IT Support Standards for Schools and Colleges Guidance (DfE Digital Standards)
  16. October 31. On the road to improving cyber resilience
  17. October 30. Cyber Support
  18. October 27. Passwords
  19. October 26. Physical Security of Digital Assets
  20. October 24. Backups: Your Recovery Safety Net
  21. October 22. Hardware: Printers
  22. October 21. Hardware: Asset Management
  23. October 20. Hardware: Safe disposal
  24. October 19. Anti-virus/anti-malware
  25. October 18. Regular Updates: Patching Against Threats
  26. October 10. Understanding Your Cyber Posture
  27. Time's Ticking: Windows 10 support ends in October 2025!
  28. October 9. A Guide for Education Providers
  29. October 4: When a Cyber Attack Hits
  30. Nursery Cyber attack
  31. The NCSC Cyber Assessment Framework
  32. Fraud awareness from the DfE
  33. The Classroom's Dark Side: Cyber crime from the Classroom
  34. KCSIE 2025: Data Protection, AI, and Cyber Security
  35. The Latest Cyber Threat: The "Murky Panda"
  36. Building a Secure School: Using the ICO Accountability Framework to Meet DfE Digital Standards
  37. Digital Safeguarding: DfE announces statutory DfE Digital Standards
  38. Compliance Reporting from the Knowledge Bank
  39. Social engineering + impersonation = Fraud ≡ cyber deception
  40. Data Breaches 2025 Report Highlights
  41. School cyber attack: Framlingham College, Suffolk
  42. Getting caught in the Scattered Spider web
  43. A Wake-Up Call for Cyber Vigilance - Danger in the Threat Landscape for Everyone
  44. Social Media and Marketing Guidelines and Training
  45. New Governor Resources
  46. Apple removes its highest level data security tool from UK customers
  47. Safer Internet Day, Cyber Security & Data Protection
  48. The Cyber Resilience Championship
  49. The Multiple Dimensions of Supplier Due Diligence
  50. Blacon High School Cyber Attack
  51. What the proposed Government legislative proposal around cyber crime means
  52. Effectively communicating during a cyber incident
  53. Safeguarding Identity in Microsoft 365: Protecting the UK Education Sector Against Cyber Threats
  54. Cyber Security Best Practice Area
  55. DfE Digital Standards for Schools and Colleges Tracker
  56. New Policies, Documents, Letters and Posters page
  57. Schools and Trusts Best Practice Area
  58. The DPE Retention Schedule
  59. How does the recent global IT outage affect me?
  60. King's speech introduces new bills in relation to cyber security, smart data and digital information
  61. Out of date technology
  62. What's a Cyber Incident and what should we do?
  63. Cyber attack on a school during half term
  64. Free short cyber training for staff
  65. The rise of cyber attacks in schools are causing pupils to miss classes
  66. ICO: Learning from the mistakes of others report
  67. Children's mental health data leaked after a cyber attack
  68. Cyber attack on a Trust; the aftermath
  69. Social Media Best Practice Area
  70. Lettings Best Practice Area
  71. MFA Bombing - What is it?
  72. Product Focus on Checklists : Initial Trust Plan
  73. Product Focus on Checklists : Information and Cyber Security
  74. Product Focus on Checklists : End of Term Checklist
  75. Product Focus on Checklists : Social Media
  76. Cyber Incident Review: The Benefits
  77. Product Focus on Checklists : Lettings
  78. Product Focus on Checklists : Record of Processing
  79. Why Data Should Stay Put: Benefits of Keeping Data in Its Original System
  80. Product Focus on Checklists : Data Retention and Destruction
  81. Product Focus on Checklists : Data Migration
  82. Product Focus on Checklists : Biometrics
  83. Product Focus on Checklists : Supplier Due Diligence
  84. Free Cyber help, advice and training with the Cyber Resilience Centres
  85. The Perils of Paper: The Printing Vulnerability
  86. Product Focus on Checklists : FOI
  87. Product Focus on Checklists : Governors and Data
  88. Product Focus on Checklists : DPIA
  89. Product Focus on Checklists : Site Moves
  90. Product Focus on Checklists : Data Breaches
  91. Product Focus on Checklists : Subject Access Requests
  92. Cyber attack on a University
  93. Product Focus on Checklists : Bring your own device
  94. Product Focus on Checklists : Working out of school/offsite
  95. Cyber Attack on a School
  96. Product Focus on Checklists : Redaction
  97. Product Focus on Checklists : CCTV
  98. Product Focus on Checklists : Clear desk
  99. Product Focus on Checklists : Commitment to compliance
  100. Product Focus on Checklists : Photos and video
  101. Product Focus on Checklists : Passwords
  102. Product Focus on Checklists : Information Classification
  103. Kent Councils Data Breach
  104. Free cyber training for staff
  105. DfE Digital Standards Update
  106. Where is your data stored?
  107. Phishing attacks targeting schools - alert from City of London Police
  108. The ICO reprimands a Multi Academy Trust
  109. CISA and UK NCSC Announce Joint Guidelines for Secure AI System Development
  110. Trust Initial Plan Checklist Update
  111. Update on Advisory for Rhysida Ransomware
  112. Records Management Best Practice Update
  113. The Crime in a Cyber Attack and a Data Breach
  114. NCSC Annual Review is published for 2023
  115. Learning from Data Breaches
  116. Windows 11 security ineffective against attacks on old devices
  117. Trust Initial Plan for Data Protection Compliance (for Multi Academy Trusts)
  118. International Counter Ransomware Initiative 2023 Joint Statement
  119. Google for Education Resources: Helping IT Admins meet DfE digital and technology standards
  120. Top Ten Cyber Security Misconfigurations
  121. ICO Reprimand: company suffered a ransomware attack
  122. The UK Online Safety Bill becomes an Act (Law)
  123. The importance of software updates (PaperCut vulnerability and Rhysida ransomware)
  124. Ransomware, extortion and the cyber crime ecosystem
  125. Cyber Resource: The Cyber Resilience Centre Group
  126. Email and Security: ICO recent guidance
  127. Help after a Cyber Attack/Incident
  128. What to do in the event of a Cyber Attack
  129. How KCSIE is linked to Cyber Strategy
  130. Cyber Crime: AI Generated Phishing Attacks
  131. Cyber Attack: Exam Boards
  132. VICE SOCIETY - Ransomware attacks on schools
  133. Using Tags if you are a group of organisations in the DPE Knowledge Bank
  134. Where's Harry the Hacker?
  135. Be Cyber Aware: USB Sticks
  136. Cyber Insurance in the Public Sector
  137. Types of Cyber Attacks: DDos Attack (Microsoft DDoS Attack in June)
  138. Cyber Attack: Leytonstone School
  139. Be Cyber Aware: Firewalls
  140. Be Cyber Aware: Cyber attacks and transparency. A no blame culture
  141. Cyber Attack: Dorchester School
  142. Knowledge Bank Role Types: Admin, Staff and Trustee
  143. Types of Cyber Attacks: Password Attacks
  144. Be Cyber Aware: Why regular software updates are important
  145. Cyber Attack: Wiltshire School
  146. Keeping your IT systems safe and secure
  147. Why we recommend using PIN codes on printers
  148. Types of Cyber Attacks: DDoS Attacks
  149. Types of Cyber Attacks: Phishing
  150. Redaction Guidelines Updated
  151. Types of Cyber Attacks: The Insider Threat
  152. Why your data is profitable to cyber criminals
  153. Using WhatsApp in Schools
  154. Knowledge Bank Updates
  155. Types of malware and how they are linked to data protection
  156. Windows Server 2012 & 2012 R2 Retirement
  157. How to contact us for support, subject access requests, data breaches and FOI's
  158. How a school fought back after a cyberattack
  159. Types of Cyber Attacks - Credential Stuffing
  160. January Cyber update - How Can Schools Help Prevent Cyber Attacks?
  161. Assigning courses to staff using to-dos
  162. The Education sector now at highest risk of cyber attacks
  163. Cyber Attacks
  164. Best Practice for Managing Photos and Video
  165. Compliance Manager released
  166. Emails – good practice and minimising the risk of a data breach

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