Thousands of pupils attend school on Saturday after online phishing attack
10 May 2025, 18:54
All secondary schools opened specially on Saturday to allow pupils with exams next week to reset their passwords.
Thousands of pupils attended schools in Edinburgh on Saturday in order to reset their IT network passwords, after a phishing attack left them locked out of learning material.
The local council said no data was compromised in the attempted cyber attack, which happened on Friday in the middle of the revision period for exams.
All secondary schools opened specially on Saturday to allow pupils with exams next week to reset their passwords, as they had been locked out of the network as a precaution and unable to access revision resources.
About 2,500 pupils are believed to have attended in person on Saturday.
The attack was detected on Friday when a member of staff noticed “unusual and suspicious” activity on the city’s schools and early years IT network.
Update on suspected targeted phishing attack on schools and early years network: https://t.co/qKPZoYN5EU https://t.co/RUj62d2sLs
— The City of Edinburgh Council (@Edinburgh_CC) May 10, 2025
Edinburgh council’s education convener James Dalgleish said: “We saw approximately 2,500 young people attend their secondary schools to reset their passwords this morning and I’m delighted that our dedicated school staff were on hand to support them and minimise the impact on their exam preparations.
“My thanks once again to our colleagues for their quick thinking and vigilance, without which this could have been far worse, and for their work throughout the weekend to ensure the attack was contained and our networks remain secure and protected.
He continued: “Close monitoring will continue over the coming days and we’re keeping the Scottish Government and Police Scotland up to date.
“I’d like to wish all of our students sitting exams in the coming days and weeks the very best of luck.”
The council took the decision to reset passwords for all users as a “precautionary measure”, leaving staff and students unable to log into the network until they set a new password.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “City of Edinburgh Council is being supported by the Scottish Cyber Co-ordination Centre.
“Schools remain open and ministers have not been advised of any impact on exam arrangements.
“Cyber security matters are reserved to the UK Government. However, the Scottish Government is determined to do whatever it can within its powers to build Scotland’s cyber resilience and to reduce the impact of cyber incidents across our sectors.”
