NCSC offers free cyber service to all UK schools
More than a third of schools and colleges in England experienced a cyberattack in the last year
UK schools are being offered access to a free cyber service defense service to protect against online threats.
The service being offered from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of GCHQ, in partnership with Cloudflare and Accenture, helps block online threats such as malware, ransomware and phishing attacks. It also prevents access to websites known to be malicious, limiting access to domains hosting spyware.
Schools continue to face a range of cyber threats to their systems with recently published figures from Ofqual showing more than a third of schools and colleges in England have experienced a cyber incident during the last academic year.
Suzan Sakarya, senior manager EMEIA security strategy at Jamf, told Computing: “It’s a well-known secret that the education sector’s resources and funding don’t go toward the latest cybersecurity tools, so a free and easy-to-understand service to improve cyber hygiene is essential.
“Students spend nearly twice as much time online as ever before; therefore, the service is critical in blocking unsafe content and mitigating malicious attacks.”
PDNS for schools
The new service is part of the Protective Domain Name System (PDNS) for Schools initiative, a cybersecurity offer of advice and guidance tools the NCSC has provided to help schools improve their cybersecurity.
The service has now been extended to more educational settings across the UK, with multi-academy trusts, academies, independent schools and school service providers encouraged to sign up, meaning more schools, regardless of their resources or status, can benefit from enhanced cyber resilience.
NCSC deputy director for economy and society, Sarah Lyons, said: "With a growing range of cyber threats, it has never been more important to protect our educational environments from online threats.
“The PDNS for Schools service offers a crucial layer of protection, helping schools defend against common online threats, at no cost.”