2026 Northern Ireland Education Authority — C2k school IT cyberattack; pupil data possibly accessed
Data compromised
Possible access to children's personal data at schools on the C2k platform serving ~300,000 pupils and ~20,000 teachers; EA notified parents at 23 schools by June 29, 2026 (16 newly identified)—specific data categories and total affected pupils not yet attested
Technical writeup
Verified incident — April–June 2026. The Education Authority Northern Ireland (EA) confirmed a cyberattack compromised the C2k centralized school IT network in early April 2026, disrupting coursework, teaching materials, exam tools, and communications for hundreds of thousands of pupils ahead of exam season. Initial EA statements could not confirm personal-data theft; by April 15 EA confirmed a targeted attack on a small number of systems while restoration progressed (~80% of post-primary schools back online). On June 29, 2026 reporting said EA issued updated parent letters to 23 schools—16 not previously notified—warning that forensic analysis now indicates a possibility children's personal data was accessed during the unlawful incident. EA had not published a final victim count at catalog time. BreachHistory indexes recordsAffected 0 pending attested pupil counts.
Root cause
Targeted cyberattack on C2k centralized school IT network managed by Education Authority Northern Ireland; forensic review later identified possible pupil personal-data access at additional schools