A local authority in Scotland reveals that it is working to ensure there is ‘minimal disruption’ to education institutions across the area that have been impacted by a security incident
West Lothian Council’s education network has been targeted by a suspected ransomware cyberattack.
A council spokesperson said contingency plans are in place to keep schools open with “minimal disruption until the issue is resolved”.
There is “no evidence” that sensitive or personal data has been accessed by the criminals, they added.
The incident is under a live ongoing criminal investigation and the council is working with the Scottish Government, Police Scotland and other relevant agencies.
The spokesperson said: “Contingency plans are in place to ensure our schools can operate with minimal disruption until this issue is resolved. All West Lothian Council schools will be open as normal this week, and SQA examinations will not be affected. There is no evidence at this time, that the council’s corporate and public access networks are affected by the attack.”
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The West Lothian Council area sits between Edinburgh to the east and Glasgow to the west, and is home to almost 200,000 people in towns including Livingstone, Bathgate, and Linlithgow.
In a post on LinkedIn, the Cyber and Fraud Centre Scotland said the incident affecting the area’s council should serve as a “reminder” for organisations to keep cyber defences up to date.
It said: “This should be a reminder to all organisations both large and small that everyone is a target, and no-one is immune to these criminal attacks, and to ensure they are as cyber resilient as possible with technology, training and working with their boards around Incident Response planning.”
The attack follows high-profile cyberattacks affecting three major British retailers over the past two weeks.
The incidents have affected the operations and networks of Marks & Spencer and Harrods, while Co-op has said that a “significant” amount of customer data has been accessed by hackers.
A version of this story originally appeared on PublicTechnology sister publication Holyrood
