Schools warned of cyberattack threat as new year begins

Published

2 years ago

September 4, 2023

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School leaders have been warned they must prepare for the threat of cyberattacks as the new academic year begins.

The National Cyber Security Centre said “appropriate security measures” should be in place to defend against any threats and prevent disruption.

While there is no indication of an increased threat ahead of schools going back this week, the start of a new term means the impact of any attack could be more keenly felt than at other times of year.

Don Smith, vice president of the counter-threat unit at cybersecurity firm Secureworks, said it was a “time of change” that presented opportunities for criminals.

He told Sky News creating accounts for new pupils and staff, as well as a school’s stance on portable devices like laptops and tablets, could create vulnerabilities.

“Summer is a time when people are using their devices to have fun, play games, that sort of thing,” he said.

“If you’ve allowed teachers and pupils to take devices home, or let them bring their own, these devices may have picked up infections and malware that can come into the school and create a problem.”

Last September, just weeks into the new term, six schools in the same academy trust in Hertfordshire had their internal systems brought down by a cyberattack.

And on Friday, Debenham High School in Suffolk saw a hack take all of its computer facilities taken offline, leaving technicians scrambling to restore them before term starts.

Schools are not usually specifically hit by concentrated attack campaigns like businesses, but are seen as opportunistic targets as their defences tend to be less robust than other institutions.

‘Critical’ that staff and students understand threats

Mr Smith said limited budgets and spending priorities meant schools’ cyber defences may be lacking.

He stressed the need for “basic digital hygiene” to help protect important data, such as setting up two-factor authentication when logging into a school account and keeping computers and their software up to date.

Students and teachers should also be regularly reminded of how to stay safe, including the importance of strong passwords, avoiding suspicious downloads, and recognising phishing attempts in emails.

“Gone are the days when cybersecurity was the responsibility of a small team in IT,” Mr Smith said.

“Users are the front line of cybersecurity – a general cyber literacy and awareness of the basics is critical.”

A recent study found one in seven 15-year-olds are at risk of responding to a phishing email – this is when fraudsters draw you in with an email that looks legitimate, but directs you to web pages designed to steal data.

The international research involving University College London found this rose to one in five among teenagers from disadvantaged backgrounds, with those who also have weaker cognitive skills most at risk.

Study author Professor John Jerrim warned “more needs to be done” to help teenagers navigate an “increasingly complex and dangerous online world”.

Schools are ‘powerhouses of data’

The National Cyber Security Centre, which is part of GCHQ, has previously warned of an increase in ransomware attacks affecting the education sector.

This is when criminals gain access to a victim’s network to plant malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until money is paid.

According to a threat report by cybersecurity company SonicWall, overall ransomware attacks slumped to a four-year low during the first quarter of 2023 but have been steadily on the rise since then.

SonicWall’s Spencer Starkey told Sky News schools were “powerhouses of data” that would make appealing targets for hackers looking to carry out financial and phishing scams.

“Schools going back next week must prioritise cybersecurity from a budgetary and mindset perspective,” he said, especially as schools increasingly rely on internet-based tools in the classroom.

A Department for Education spokesperson said education providers are responsible “for ensuring they are aware of cybersecurity risks” and “putting the appropriate measures in place”.

This includes data backups and response plans for when an incident may occur.

“We monitor reports of all cyberattacks closely and in any case where there has been an attack, we instruct the department’s regional team to offer support,” they added.

“There is no evidence to suggest that attacks like this are on the rise.”

UK

How Britain’s most notorious gangster turned up at a charity lunch to fact-check a retired detective’s talk

Published

4 hours ago

July 5, 2025

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How Britain's most notorious gangster turned up at a charity lunch to fact-check a retired detective's talk

Britain’s most notorious gangster and the detective who pursued him have been involved in a bizarre confrontation…at a charity lunch.

Former Detective Superintendent Ian Brown was at a Kent golf club and about to give a talk on the infamous £26m Brink’s-Mat gold robbery when he was summoned from the stage by officials.

Mr Brown, who appeared on the award-winning Sky News StoryCast podcast The Hunt For The Brink’s-Mat Gold in 2019, said: “I go outside and they say ‘he’s here’ and I say ‘who’s here’ and they say that table over there in the corner, that’s Kenny Noye with a baseball cap pulled down over his head.”

Noye stabbed to death an undercover policeman during the Brink’s-Mat investigation, but was acquitted of murder, though he was jailed for handling the stolen gold.

After his release, he used a knife again in the M25 road-rage murder of motorist Stephen Cameron.

“They said what are we going to do?” said Mr Brown.

“I said are you serving food? Well, just use plastic knives.”

Although Mr Brown had not personally arrested Noye over Brink’s-Mat he had identified him as a suspect months after the robbery.

Years later he met him during an ill-fated TV interview in which he quizzed him about his role in the robbery.

He said: “He told me everything I wanted to know except the truth. He still insists he had nothing to do with it.”

The interview was never broadcast after the prison authorities threatened to send Noye back to jail for a breach of his parole.

Mr Brown, 86, said: “I went over to him and said ‘thanks for coming, nice of you to pop in’, but I don’t believe you’ve turned up with your sons and grandkids to listen to me telling how you killed a police officer.

“And he said ‘I want to make sure you don’t say I’ve been dealing drugs’ and I said ‘I’ve never said that Kenny’.”

The retired detective told Noye he wasn’t going to change his presentation just because he was there.

“He said ‘mate, I wouldn’t expect you to and I’ll come up [on stage] if you want me to’.

“Can you think how he’s turned up with his family to listen to somebody talking about you killing the police? Now, you put logic on that.”

The bizarre story emerged when I rang Mr Brown after I’d been told about the meeting.

I also wanted to ask him about the recent BBC hit drama series The Gold which retold the story of the Brink’s-Mat heist at Heathrow Airport in 1983.

“It was an absolute shambles, far too much dramatic licence and the real story was so much better,” said the ex-detective, whose job had been to follow the trail of the 6,800 gold bars to the US and the Caribbean.

He said he chatted to one of the show’s writers for a long time in a phone call but then heard no more.

“They invented people, changed a bit here and there and made it politically correct in so many ways. I’m just very sad that that is what people will believe.

“And I couldn’t work out who my character was supposed to be. I could have been one of the female cops.”

He also criticised the portrayal of Noye, now 78, as a likeable jack-the-lad character when the truth about the double killer with a volatile temper was quite different.

UK

Gallagher brothers share a high-five and hug as Oasis reunite on stage after 16 years

Published

12 hours ago

July 4, 2025

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Gallagher brothers share a high-five and hug as Oasis reunite on stage after 16 years

Oasis have reunited on stage for the first time in almost 16 years – with brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher sharing a high five and the briefest of hugs as they closed a performance that for fans was more than worth the wait.

After the split in 2009, for many years Noel said he would never go back – and for a long time, as the brothers exchanged insults through separate interviews (and on social media, for Liam), it seemed pretty unlikely to ever happen.

But now, here they are. As they walked out on stage at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, all eyes were on the Gallaghers for a sense of their relationship – dare we say it, friendship? – now after all these years.

There was no reference to their fall-out or making up, but the gestures were there – lifting hands together as they walked out for the first time.

Headlines and tweets of speculation and then confirmation of the reunion filled the screens as the show started. “This is happening,” said one, repeatedly.

In the end, it was all about the music.

Liam has received criticism in the past for his voice not being what it once was during his solo or Beady Eye performances, but back on stage with his brother tonight he delivered exactly what fans would have hoped for – a raw, steely-eyed performance, snarling vocals, and the swagger that makes him arguably the greatest frontman of his day.

This was Oasis sounding almost as good as they ever have.

They opened with Hello, because of course, “it’s good to be back”. And then Acquiesce, and those lyrics: “Because we need each other/ We believe in one another.”

The song is said to be about friendship in the wider sense, rather than their brotherly bond and sibling rivalry, but you can’t help but feel like it means something here.

Over two hours, they played favourite after favourite – including Morning Glory, Some Might Say, Cigarettes & Alcohol, Supersonic and Roll With It.

In the mid-section, Liam takes his break for Noel to sing Talk Tonight, Half The World Away and Little By Little; the tempo slows but there is by no means a lull, with the fans singing all his words back to him.

Liam returns for hits including Stand By Me, Slide Away, Whatever and Live Forever, before sending the crowd wild (or even wilder) with Rock And Roll Star.

When the reunion announcement was made last summer, it quickly became overshadowed by the controversy of dynamic pricing causing prices to rocket. As he has done on X before, Liam addressed the issue on stage with a joke.

“Was it worth the £4,000 you paid for the ticket?” he shouted at one point. “Yeah,” the crowd shouts back; seemingly all is forgiven.

After Rock And Roll Star, the dream that very quickly became a reality for this band, Noel introduced the rest of the group, calling Bonehead a “legend”.

Then he acknowledges all their young fans, some who maybe weren’t even born when they split. “This one is for all the people in their 20s who’ve never seen us before, who’ve kept this shit going,” he says before the encore starts with The Masterplan.

Noel follows with Don’t Look Back In Anger, and the screens fill with Manchester bees in reference to the arena bombing and how the song became the sound of hope and defiance for the city afterwards.

During Wonderwall, there’s a nice touch as Liam sings to the crowd: “There are many things I would like to say to you, but I don’t speak Welsh.”

It is at the end of Champagne Supernova, which closes the set, that it happens; Noel puts down his guitar, and they come together for a high-five and a back-slap, a blink-and-you’d miss it hug.

“Right then, beautiful people, this is it,” Liam had told the crowd as he introduced the song just a few minutes earlier. “Nice one for putting up with us over the years.”

From the roar of the audience, it’s safe to say most people here would agree it’s been worth it.

UK

Former Arsenal player Thomas Partey charged with rape

Published

21 hours ago

July 4, 2025

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Former Arsenal player Thomas Partey charged with rape

Former Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey has been charged with five counts of rape.

The 32-year-old has also been charged with one count of sexual assault.

Two of the counts of rape relate to one woman, three counts relate to a second woman, and the one count of sexual assault relates to a third woman.

The incidents are alleged to have taken place between 2021 and 2022.

Metropolitan Police said he is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 5 August.

“The charges follow an investigation by detectives, which commenced in February 2022 after police first received a report of rape,” the force said.

Partey has just left Arsenal after his contract expired and was said to be attracting interest from clubs including Juventus, Barcelona and Fenerbahce.

The Ghanaian player was at the Emirates for five years after signing from Atletico Madrid and has also played dozens of times for his country.

His time with Arsenal was marked by recurring injuries but he played 130 times for the club in the Premier League, including 35 times last season when he scored four goals.

Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy said: “Our priority remains providing support to the women who have come forward.”

Anyone who has information about the case, or has been impacted by it, is being asked to contact the Met Police.