Children as young as seven linked to school cyber breaches, with over half of education attacks carried out by pupils
The Information Commissioner's Office, the UK’s independent regulator for data protection and information rights, says more than half of cyber attacks and data breaches in schools and colleges in the past three years were carried out by pupils.
Of the 215 hacks and breaches in educational establishments investigated by the ICO in that period, 57 percent of them were perpetrated by students.
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Nearly a third of the offenses involved pupils guessing passwords or stealing teacher logins in order to access staff systems.
The watchdog says the children are hacking systems and accessing private data for fun or dares, calling it a "worrying trend."
"What starts out as a dare, a challenge, a bit of fun in a school setting can ultimately lead to children taking part in damaging attacks on organizations or critical infrastructure," said Heather Toomey, Principal Cyber Specialist at the ICO.
Schools under attack
In one case, a seven-year-old was referred to the National Crime Agency's Cyber Choices program after a breach.
Another incident involved three Year 11 pupils who used tools from the internet to break passwords and gain access to records of more than 1,400 students.
The ICO also cited a case where a student logged into a college database using a teacher’s details. They accessed records belonging to over 9,000 staff, students and applicants, including addresses, health data and safeguarding logs.
The government’s latest Cyber Security Breaches Survey found that 44 percent of schools reported an attack or breach in the last year.
The BBC notes that the ICO’s warning follows a series of high-profile cyberattacks on companies including M&S and Jaguar Land Rover, where teenage hackers were implicated.
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