ICT Solutions News Desk

Sent on behalf of CTAG (Cyber Technical Advisory Group), which incorporates both National and local public sector cyber security leads

We wanted to take the opportunity to write to you to underline the importance of protecting information.

As professionals and school governor volunteers in the education environment, we have a responsibility to protect the personal and sensitive information of staff, colleagues, and our pupils. You may have read in the news recently that there have been a number of cyber attacks that have been reported, some of which have affected schools and nurseries. This is not intended to be scaremongering, but rather to highlight something that is a fact of everyday life. The good news is that there are some simple steps that can be taken to make it far harder for attackers to gain access and to prevent them from stealing information. One of the main things we recommend is something known as Multi-Factor Authentication, commonly known as MFA.

MFA is typically a simple application that is on your mobile phone or another device. Implementing MFA makes it so much harder for attackers to gain access to your accounts. This step prevents attackers from gaining access through them to personal sensitive information stored on networks and local services/systems.

There are also a number of free-to-use training tools from the National Cyber Security Centre, the NCSC. We have included some links to those training materials and to the advice and guidance below.

• https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/section/education-skills/schools
• https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/information/cyber-security-training-schools
• https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/information/top-tips-for-staff

We do recognise that it’s not always appropriate or necessary for staff to have their mobile phones with them in the classroom when logging into their systems. If this is a particular problem, then alternative methods to achieve the necessary security will need to be thought of.

We hope that you can discuss this at one of your governor meetings and decide to take positive action in implementing MFA within the school. Any feedback that you may have would be greatly appreciated (please send to ict@norfolk.gov.uk) and will ensure that we can help support you to achieve better security in your schools.

Mark Brett (CTAG) and ICT Solutions

We would like to make you aware that over the half term period there will be essential maintenance carried out to the infrastructure that hosts the Identity Management system. As a result, this will impact:

• The creation of any new NSIX accounts
• Any amendments carried out to NSIX accounts, such as name changes

We apologise in advance for any inconvenience that this may cause.

For more information, please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk

We would like to ask schools to refrain from turning off the power to the core networking equipment over the forthcoming holiday period. Core networking equipment includes routers, switches and servers, often in a wall or floor cabinet. These devices are monitored by ourselves, Rydal and Schools Broadband and turning off the power results in false alarms. This could potentially result in you incurring a charge for an engineer visit.

Please can we also kindly ask those schools who house LoRaWAN gateways to leave these powered on over the holidays, as they serve the community as a whole. 

If there is no alternative to powering off the equipment, because of planned work, for example, please advise us in advance.

For more information, please contact the Service Desk on 01603 475603 or ict@norfolk.gov.uk

Are you prepared for the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) switch off?

If you haven’t started planning, you might want to think about your telephony service, in preparation for the PSTN switch off in 2027.

As a reminder, we have a telephony framework available for Schools/Academies to purchase from to give you confidence in upgrading your telephone system.

Each supplier will have had due diligence carried out on them and met certain standards for technical, financial, health and safety and pricing. 

If you would like to learn more, please visit the Telephony framework webpage or contact us on 01603 475603.

We have been notified of the following by Microsoft and only affects Outlook for Mac users.

After October 2025, Microsoft 365 subscriptions associated with a Microsoft 365 account (personal, work, or school) will no longer be able to use legacy Microsoft Outlook for Mac. This transition marks a significant step towards a more robust, feature-rich, and secure email experience for all users.

The latest version of Outlook for Mac has been part of the Microsoft 365 suite for the last four years. More than 95% of Microsoft 365 users have already moved from legacy Outlook for Mac to the new version.

Users will no longer be able to switch back to legacy Outlook for Mac after this change is implemented.

Police Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU) are running a series of free to attend education sector webinars for School Leaders, Governors, School staff and Parents. Details and more information are below: 

1) Cyber Security and introduction to Cyber Choices session for UK Education Staff

This is a 1 hour webinar repeated six times until Jan 2026, this session would be useful for anyone working with / in schools or with young people who have not seen one of the cyber inputs previously or want a refresh.

The session will:

• Highlight current trends and provide actionable steps that attendees can take.
• Highlight nationally approved resources like those created for the education sector by the National Cyber Security Centre.
• Introduce the National Crime Agency's Cyber Choices Programme.
• Highlight free local and national Police resources that can support the school further in this area.

This event is free, and tickets can be book directly via:

2) Cyber Security Awareness Session for UK School Governors / Senior Leaders

This is a 2 hour webinar focusing on highlighting the need for cyber resilience in schools it is aimed at school’s governors/leaders and will be repeated six times until Jan 2026. This has had significant changes from our previous offering, and we would suggest that attendees attend the one-hour staff awareness session prior to this.

The session will:

• Highlight cyber security threats that the education sector face
• Raise awareness of the schools' duties around cyber security
• Inform the attendees around the questions to ask to ensure schools are fulfilling their duties.
• Highlight free local and national Police resources that can support the school further in this area.

The event is free, and tickets can be book directly via:

3) Parents / Carers Cyber Choices and Online Safety Events

Please note there are two parts to the parent events, and you will need to register for each independently. Each session will be repeated 8 times until December 2025. Both are 1 hour sessions and are suitable for parents/carers of children in Year 5 (age 9) and above. This is an opportunity to learn and ask questions regarding your child’s online world.

Parents Event – Part 1 - Introduction to Cyber Choices and Online Risks

This session will introduce you to the Cyber Choices programme and will provide:

• An overview to parents and carers on what cybercrime is. 
• What the risks to young people are.
• How the Cyber Choices programme supports at-risk individuals. 
• How you can refer a young person into Cyber Choices.
   

You will also receive an overview of:

• Some of the potential risks that children and young people may experience online.
• Advice to support parents to make informed decisions and keep their children safer online. 

The event is free, and tickets can be book directly via:

Parents Event – Part 2 - Tools and techniques to improve the cyber security of your family

This session will:

• Provide advice on how to improve your personal cyber security.
• Help you to identify and protect your (and your children's) key accounts.
• Identify threats and techniques that cyber criminals may use to target you / your family.
• Highlight the benefits of family accounts.
• Identify parental controls on your router.
• Signposting to useful resources.
   

Advice and guidance from the session will be in line with the Government's Stop! Think Fraud and the National Cyber Security Centres CyberAware campaign.

The event is free, and tickets can be book directly via: