An Irish Primary School Had Private Data Hacked And Held ‘For Ransom’

An Irish primary school was attacked by a cyber hacker last year, with names, dates of birth and PPSN numbers locked until a ransom was paid.

Details of the data breach are included in the annual report of the Data Protection Commissioner today which was reported by The Irish Independent.

Commissioner Helen Dixon detailed several cases where proper data protection law wasn’t used properly in Ireland last year in the report.

She also declined to say whether the school who was hacked ultimately paid any ransom.

It did say however, that the school was behind in its systems, and there was no knowledge or training in how to protect its pupils’ personal data.

The Commissioner said there was “a lack of staff training and awareness of the risks associated with opening unknown email attachments or files”. 

No disciplinary action was taken against the school, and the name and location of it was not revealed.

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