Rhysida group claims major cyber attack on Fylde Coast Academy Trust

The Rhysida ransomware group has demanded a ransom of £1.3 million from Fylde Coast Academy Trust in exchange for not publishing information stolen from its network.

 

In September, Blackpool-based Fylde Coast Academy Trust suffered a significant data security incident that affected all ten schools it managed, including Blackpool’s Armfield, Aspire, Montgomery and Unity high schools and Gateway, Mereside, Westcliff and Westminster primary schools, Hambleton Primary Academy and Garstang Community Academy.

 

Dean Logan, the CEO of Fylde Coast Academy Trust, said the trust launched an investigation, with assistance from Cyber Clan, a Canadian cyber security company, to determine the scope of the incident.

 

Logan added that the ransomware attack has resulted in limited accessibility to its computers, printers, and other systems connected to the network. Communication channels including phone lines of the trust were also impacted.

 

The Trust had notified the Department of Education about the incident and has been working with them to resolve the incident at the earliest.

 

Recently, the Rhysida ransomware group claimed responsibility for the cyber attack on Fylde Coast Academy and listed the trust as a victim on its data leak site. The group has demanded a ransom of 20 Bitcoin (appx. £1,356,295) and had given a deadline till November 12 to meet its ransom demands. If the trust decides against paying the ransom, the group will leak the stolen data on the dark web.

 

 

Commenting on the news, Mark Robertson, CRO at Acumen Cyber, said, “What we are seeing here is the real ruthlessness of ransomware criminals. The criminals are not backing down and it’s now only a matter of days before sensitive school data will be published all over the dark web.

 

“The UK government has already pledged to never pay ransomware gangs, regardless of the consequences, and a gang like Rhysida will be well aware of this.

 

“But this also means the attackers have clearly been motivated to cause damage and destruction, regardless of the consequences this has on children’s education. Recovering from ransomware is a huge challenge that comes with a very hefty price tag, so doing everything to improve resilience against attacks must be the priority,” Robertson added.