Cyber attacks and extortion attempts hit SA schools as Education Minister fights back

Cyber attacks targeting sensitive SA school data are rising, with one criminal pretending to be the education department chief.

Schools are being targeted through an email scam using dodgy invoices claiming they were being sent from the state’s Education Department chief executive. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

South Australian schools are increasingly being targeted by online extortion attempts as the number of cyber attacks facing the state’s education system spirals.

The state’s Education Minister Blair Boyer is stepping up training for staff as data reveals state governments and education sectors accounted for almost 20 per cent of cyber incidents reported nationally last financial year.

Growing numbers of attacks, including attempts to gain access to sensitive school student records to launch extortion attempts, has led to the state’s Education Department cyber protection unit doubling in size.

Chief information officer Daniel Hughes estimated about a 20 per cent increase in the past two years of attempts to hack or extort staff based at about 950 sites across the state, the incidents reported to the Federal Government’s Australian Cyber Security Centre.

Earlier this year an email scam was thwarted in SA where corporate staff were targeted by a criminal sending dodgy invoices and claiming they were being sent from the state’s Education Department chief executive.

Back in 2022, eight public schools were targeted and three fell victim to a scam where an attacker requested a change in bank accounts for invoice payments, Mr Hughes saying “thankfully, they were not huge amounts of money”.

Education Minister Blair Boyer said the Education Department had established a partnership with global provider Fortinet to roll out free training for corporate and public school staff in a further bid to provide better cyber protection. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

This year, Mr Hughes said many corporate and school staff also received extortion emails where the perpetrators claimed to have hacked computers and demanded payments.

Four of Mr Hughes’ team actively operate systems to block constant attacks while another four are involved with educating staff in a bid to prevent cyber crime.

“It would absolutely be weekly if not a daily occurrence,” Mr Hughes said.

“I would suspect it’s in the realm of a 20 per cent increase in incidents just in the past two years.

“Threat actors and cyber attacks are getting more advanced as are the attempts to gain access to systems.”

Mr Boyer said the Education Department had established a partnership with global provider Fortinet to roll out free training for corporate and public school staff in a further bid to provide better cyber protection.

“We know that cyber criminals are constantly looking for opportunities and a lack of awareness can make people more likely to fall victim to this kind of crime,” Mr Boyer said.

“With these threats on the increase, everyone needs to help reduce the risk of them succeeding.”

After offering the training to staff, the department was looking to have students complete the modules in 2025.