Announcement

A MESSAGE TO PARENTS AND PUPILS

Last Tuesday 23^rd March, the government’s National Cyber Security Centre issued an alert about a spike in so-called ransomware attacks affecting schools. Despite our software and systems being fully updated at the time, the Harris Federation’s servers have been attacked. 

A ransomware attack means that cyber-criminals have accessed our IT systems and encrypted, or hidden, their contents. We are at least the fourth multi academy trust to have been targeted in March. The attack came to light on Saturday 27^th March, and we have been working through the weekend to begin resolving it. 

This is a highly sophisticated attack that will have significant impact on our academies but it will take time to uncover the exact details of what has or has not happened, and to resolve. In addition to using the services of a specialised firm of cyber technology consultants, we are working closely with the National Crime Agency and the National Cyber Security Centre.

Harris academies will remain open today and we will endeavour to keep them open until the end of term on Wednesday 31^st March. 

Our websites, which are hosted separately, are not affected but as a precaution we have temporarily disabled our email system. Our telephone systems, which run on the internet, have also been disabled but each academy switchboard has been diverted to a mobile telephone. Switchboard services are therefore very limited and we would ask that you temporarily avoid telephoning us or any Harris academy other than to report absence or in emergencies. 

As the info@harrischaffordhundred.org.uk email account is currently inactive, we have created a temporary email account, info.harrischaffordhundred@gmail.com, to allow parents and carers to contact us. Home asymptomatic testing will continue as normal, however, while you will be able to report all results to the NHS as normal, the link to update the academy is not currently working. Any positive cases should be reported by sending an SMS text message to 07955 527949 stating your child’s name and year group. 

Where pupils have Harris Federation devices, these have been disabled as a precaution and cannot currently be used. Pupils should also not access any of their Harris Federation Office365 accounts, including their Harris Federation email and Teams accounts. This will mean that students will not be able to access any online lessons until further notice; work will be provided where necessary. 

We know that some families will have important individual concerns around data and that in these cases you will want to know more about the nature of the attack. Because we do not want to risk providing incorrect information, we will communicate further once we have clarity and liaise as appropriate with the Information Commissioner’s Office. 

Please continue to check the school website for updates.