UK Launches Nationwide Cybersecurity Shield for Schools

The United Kingdom has launched a large-scale campaign to safeguard educational institutions from cyberattacks. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of the intelligence agency GCHQ, has offered schools a free service designed to protect against malware and network threats.

The system, called the Protective Domain Name System (PDNS) for Schools, was developed by NCSC specialists in collaboration with Cloudflare and Accenture. It has already been successfully deployed across central government bodies, emergency services, and the UK Ministry of Defence.

The system operates by blocking connections to known malicious domains. Its database of harmful resources is compiled from various sources, including classified intelligence. The system is capable of blocking access to a malicious domain within 30 minutes of its identification.

The need for such protection arises from a record increase in cyberattacks targeting educational institutions. According to the regulator, 131 ransomware incidents were recorded last year in the education and childcare sectors.

Preliminary statistics for the first half of this year show that at least 47 schools have fallen victim to ransomware attacks, resulting in the leakage of personal data. Among the affected institutions are schools in London, West Sussex, and a specialized school for children with special educational needs in Leeds.

Particularly alarming is the fact that attackers not only disrupt the operation of educational institutions but also publish confidential documents about at-risk students as part of extortion attempts.

According to reports from the UK regulator, more than a third of schools faced cyberattacks during the last academic year. In some cases, the restoration of normal operations took several weeks.

All educational institutions in the UK can register for the protection system. To do so, they need to contact their DNS provider and request registration through the MyNCSC platform.