Files that were scrambled in a ransomware attack Attack.Ransom on Hāwera High School in Taranaki included school assessments that students had only partly completed as well as backups , principal Rachel Williams has confirmed . More help is on the way for schools battling ransomware and other malware , but it has come a little late for the school which is being held to ransom Attack.Ransom for US $ 5000 by hackers . N4L , the Crown-owned company that manages the provision of broadband to schools , said it would improve online security as part of a wider upgrade of its managed network that is due to be completed by October next year . The 2450 schools and 800,000 students on the network will get a new security solution supplied by Californian company Fortinet which would provide `` more robust protection against online threats , such as phishing Attack.Phishing and ransomware '' , it said in a statement issued on Monday . Ironically , that was the same day that staff at Hāwera High School switched on their computers to discover the message demanding Attack.Ransom US $ 5000 ( NZ $ 7352 ) in bitcoin for the return of encrypted data on a server containing students ' work and teaching resources . Hāwera High School is connected to ultrafast broadband via N4L , but N4L chief executive Larrie Moore said the school had opted out of N4L 's existing security solution and was instead using an alternative commercial offering . `` We 've been in touch with the school and their IT company to offer our support , '' he said . `` Until we know how the school 's network was compromised , we are unable to say whether the new Fortinet solution would have prevented it , '' he said . But Moore said there was no `` silver bullet '' for malware . Instead , technological protections needed to be used in combination with `` continuous education around good digital citizenship '' , he said . Williams said many of its students and teachers had backed up their files in the cloud and were not affected by the ransomware attack Attack.Ransom , but backups stored on servers at the school were also encrypted by the hackers . `` We have been working today on getting a clearer audit of student and staff work and where we are at . Some students are really not affected at all because they have saved their work on their cloud-based system . `` If students were part-way through an assessment , some of those are the ones that are encrypted and we ca n't access those at the moment . '' The school was working with NZQA to make sure those students were not disadvantaged , she said . Others had backups of their work at home , she said . Williams was not sure how the malware had arrived at the school , saying that was still being investigated . The Government is not believed to have any rules on whether state-funded organisations such as schools can pay ransoms Attack.Ransom , but in 2017 it issued advice against it and Williams said the school would follow police advice not to pay Attack.Ransom . While the incident had been annoying , `` you see people 's character come through and we 've seen real resilience from our staff and students '' , Williams said . `` It is not stopping us doing what we need to do . '' N4L said its technology upgrade would be the first major refresh of its network since it began connecting schools with ultrafast broadband at the end of 2013 . Its existing security system had blocked more than 118,000 viruses and malware threats so far during this school year , it said .

A Warwick company ’ s managing director is warning other businesses to protect themselves from cyber criminals after being held to ransom Attack.Ransom . Kettell Video Productions was targeted by tech scammers who infected its IT systems with viruses before demanding Attack.Ransom £1,000 in online currency Bitcoins or the files would be permanently deleted . Luckily , owner Stuart Kettell routinely backs up all his company ’ s systems so nothing was lost but he warned others to do the same to avoid disaster . “ It was scary : I had no idea about cyber-attacks before and really didn ’ t know what to do , ” he said . “ Critical files , including images and videos for clients , were wiped out along with a lifetime of personal memories . “ The affected files were lost for good – the only way to recover them was with the key code held by the blackmailer – but luckily I back-up everything to an external data cartridge . “ In the end it was more an inconvenience…but it could have threatened the business . “ I would strongly urge all business owners to back-up their essential files. ” Mr Kettell acted quickly when he realised the audio-visual specialists in Arlescote Close were under attack by the web sharks in December , 2015 . “ I noticed all my photos , videos and pdf files ghosting to white with a new filename… it attacked my desktop first then it wormed its way into folders one file at a time every few seconds , ” he said . “ I ’ ve no idea how the malware was introduced as we use software that ’ s designed to prevent against such attacks . “ And the demand for payment Attack.Ransom seemed very professional : I was given links where I could buy Bitcoins and even offered the chance to decrypt one file for free . “ I unplugged my computer , isolated it from the internet , and ran some anti-malware software to stop the virus spreading further. ” Latest figures from the Crime Survey for England & Wales estimated there were 1.3m computer virus offences and 667,000 hacking related offences committed in the year ending September 2016 . Sergeant Gary Sirrell from the cybercrime team at West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit said commercial web attacks are increasingly being committed against smaller firms and not big multi-nationals . “ Small and medium sized companies are easier targets : they often don ’ t have the resources or expertise to protect against cyberattacks , ” he said . “ And if they are targeted , the impact can be devastating . “ But there are steps business owners can take to mitigate the risk . “ A really effective tactic involves ‘ layering ’ defences to include a firewall , anti-malware software , staff training and regular re-training ) around phishing email awareness , and finally to plug Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability any holes in your defences by updating Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability software patches and updates Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability in a timely manner . “ By exercising good cyber hygiene , and having a strong backup policy , Stuart avoided the dilemma of whether to see his business significantly damaged , or to have to hand over a ransom Attack.Ransom to organised crime gangs to get his data unlocked . “ If more businesses in the West Midlands proactively took such steps there would be significantly fewer crimes victims . ”