It's been a busy summer behind the scenes of the DPE Knowledge Bank. Alongside the new academic year checklists and cyber alerts you'll have seen in our regular articles, we've been steadily updating of the portal: new courses, new guidance documents, a reorganised menu structure, and upgrades to several of the compliance tools you use every day. Here's a full round-up of what's changed.
We've published a new e-learning module for 2026 data protection training.
Schools across the Thames Valley area are being targeted by criminals attempting to access staff payroll accounts, according to a warning issued by the South East Cyber Crime Unit's Cyber Protect team. In several confirmed cases, the attacks have succeeded, leaving affected staff without their pay after criminals diverted their salaries elsewhere.
The Department for Education confirmed that hackers have accessed its internal helpdesk and the Turing Scheme portal, taking more than 600,000 records. Contact details belonging to headteachers, senior school leaders, government officials and university staff were among the data taken, and some of it has since appeared on the dark web.
Understandably, this has caused a lot of anxiety across the sector and, predictably, a lot of speculation. Was this preventable? Should the DfE have done more? Who's to blame?
Cyber attacks on schools are no longer a distant threat. The Department for Education (DfE) has just launched a dedicated Cyber Security Hub to help schools navigate this growing danger, and as a school leader, it's worth understanding exactly what it offers and why it matters. If you were at our conference in February you were lucky enough to see a preview of the tool!
The main benefit of multi-factor authentication (MFA) is that it significantly enhances your organisation's security by requiring users to verify their identity using more than just a username and password.
🔒 World Password Day 2026
Keeping your organisation secure in a changing authentication landscape
The Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025/2026 was published on 30t April 2026 by DSIT and the Home Office. We outline the current threat picture for schools.
🔄☁️ Having a robust backup is being prepared against data loss and data theft. March 31st is World Backup day to remind everyone of the importance of having a robust and accessible backup.
Did you know there is an increase in cyber attacks on a long weekend? Long weekends and holidays are 'peak season' for hackers who exploit reduced oversight.
On March 11, threat actors breached Stryker's network via a unique cyber attack - while the data was removed and then devices wipes, the method of entry into Stryker's network is key to improving your own cyber resilience.
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