{
  "id": 11190533,
  "title": "England's schools are getting better at mopping up cyber incidents",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/01/englands-schools-are-getting-better-at-mopping-up-cyber-incidents-11190533",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-01T11:40:13.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Register",
    "slug": "the-register",
    "url": "https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/10/01/englands-schools-are-getting-better-at-mopping-up-cyber-incidents/5300465"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "England's secondary schools are showing improvement in their ability to handle cyber incidents, according to a survey by exams regulator Ofqual. The number of schools reporting incidents decreased from 29% in the 2023/24 academic year to 27% in the 2025/26 year. Ofqual surveyed 3,775 secondary teachers in July, with the responses representing up to 2,162 schools. Phishing was the most common type of incident, followed by data protection breaches, hacking, and ransomware. Of the incidents reported, 2% involved ransomware. Staff data was the most commonly compromised information, while student data was affected in 13% of incidents and student work in 1%. Recovery times have also improved, with 66% of schools reporting immediate recovery, up from 55% the previous year. A further 12% recovered within half a school term, while 1% took longer than half a term and another 1% required a full term. The proportion of incidents causing critical damage also fell from 10% to 7%. Despite these improvements, 54% of teachers were unsure what cybersecurity improvements their school had made in the past year. Ofqual argued that cybersecurity is a responsibility shared among IT teams, staff, and senior leadership. However, 46% of teachers identified the IT team as the primary responsible party, while 40% said responsibility was shared among all staff. Only 9% identified senior leadership. Teachers received varying levels of cybersecurity training, with 27% saying they had received no training or were unsure if they had. Of those who received training, 65% said they made no changes as a result.",
  "summary": "Two-thirds report immediate recovery, although teachers remain divided over whose job security is",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Register Science",
        "title": "England's schools are getting better at mopping up cyber incidents",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/01/englands-schools-are-getting-better-at-mopping-up-cyber-incidents",
        "published": "2026-10-01T11:40:13.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}