Schools and trusts have been urged to ignore “fraudulent” letters with “a ministerial signature” purporting to be about a data breach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Department for Education has issued the warning over deceptive communications masquerading as a government \u201cregulatory notice\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said leaders should ignore the instructions set out in the missive, which claims \u201cthere has been a data breach\u201d at a firm that maintains background check records for schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a notice, published this week<\/a>, DfE stated the correspondence \u201cis confirmed as fraudulent and has not been issued by the minister\u2019s office\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have been made aware that some academy trusts have received a letter presented as a DfE \u2018national regulatory notice\u2019,\u201d officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt includes a ministerial signature and claims there has been a data breach involving Online SCR\/Intradev.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n School have been told not to \u201cfollow any instructions in the letter\u201d or \u201cshare data or comply with the directions\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They must also \u201censure senior leaders, governance leads and administrative teams are aware\u201d and \u201creport any receipt of the letter\u201d to the DfE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis letter is confirmed as fraudulent and has not been issued by the minister\u2019s office,\u201d the notice said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf anyone has already acted on the letter, notify your school\u2019s IT or security lead. You should also report it through your usual process and monitor systems for unusual activity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nMinisterial signature<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Cyber-attack<\/h3>\n\n\n\n