
Thousands of pupils attend school after online phishing attack
All secondary schools opened specially on Saturday to allow pupils with exams next week to reset their passwords, as they had been locked out of the network as a precaution and unable to access revision resources.
About 2,500 pupils are believed to have attended in person on Saturday.
The attack was detected on Friday when a member of staff noticed 'unusual and suspicious' activity on the city's schools and early years IT network.
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Edinburgh council's education convener James Dalgleish said: 'We saw approximately 2,500 young people attend their secondary schools to reset their passwords this morning and I'm delighted that our dedicated school staff were on hand to support them and minimise the impact on their exam preparations.
'My thanks once again to our colleagues for their quick thinking and vigilance, without which this could have been far worse, and for their work throughout the weekend to ensure the attack was contained and our networks remain secure and protected.
He continued: 'Close monitoring will continue over the coming days and we're keeping the Scottish Government and Police Scotland up to date.
'I'd like to wish all of our students sitting exams in the coming days and weeks the very best of luck.'
The council took the decision to reset passwords for all users as a 'precautionary measure', leaving staff and students unable to log into the network until they set a new password.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: 'City of Edinburgh Council is being supported by the Scottish Cyber Co-ordination Centre.
'Schools remain open and ministers have not been advised of any impact on exam arrangements.
'Cyber security matters are reserved to the UK Government. However, the Scottish Government is determined to do whatever it can within its powers to build Scotland's cyber resilience and to reduce the impact of cyber incidents across our sectors.'

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Some of the most important stories published by the Guardian have come from confidential tips. If you have something sensitive to share with us, here's how to get in touch. Journalists work closely with readers like you to investigate stories in the public interest. While no communication system is foolproof we go to great lengths to protect your identity and information. If you're ready to share information with a journalist you're in the right place, and we will treat you as a confidential journalistic source. We rely on people sharing tips in the public interest – and we're grateful that you're thinking about getting in touch. We're unlikely to pursue a lead unless we think it may lead to a news story, and we can't act on information that is vague or speculative. Our job is to hold power to account, to reveal institutional or systemic failings and to report on topics that are genuinely newsworthy. Please be clear, detailed and specific about your tip, why you think it matters, and what evidence you have. Facts: Specifics are critical, such as names, locations and dates. I work at government department 'Department name' in the procurement section. Clearly state the nature of your tip: Be concise and focus on what you know, rather than what you think or suspect. I have discovered evidence of a senior official's involvement in corruption and bribery. 'Name', the head of our section, has received $150,000 in under-the-radar payments. Evidence: Tell us how you know what you know, and how we might verify it. I have photographic evidence of transactions from the past two years and access to further documents that show these were a quid pro quo for awarding contracts to multinational company 'Company name'. There are many ways to contact the Guardian securely. Review the following options to see which one is best for you. Share your story with a journalist. Securely & easily. Inside our news app. Our SecureDrop system is a great way to contact us and to send documents. However, it does require more technical preparation. SecureDrop allows you to safely send us messages and documents, and to follow up with us later if you wish. All we get is what you send us plus a codename that allows us to reply to you. SecureDrop records nothing else about you. To prevent interception at our end, we decrypt any material that you send us on a system that is completely offline. On a computer that you are confident is not being monitored, install Tor Browser. Then go to and follow the instructions there. When you first visit our SecureDrop site itself, you will be given a passphrase before you can send anything. This phrase allows you to log back in to view replies from us and to continue correspondence, if you so wish. We do not always reply to messages and even when we do, responses can take several days. SecureDrop is quite a slow way to communicate, so after you have begun corresponding with a reporter they may suggest a more direct way to interact. You don't have to agree to this, of course, but it can make things smoother under some circumstances. SecureDrop is an open source project managed by the Freedom of the Press Foundation. End to end encrypted messaging apps such as Signal and WhatsApp provide good protection for the content of your messages, and are very easy to use. Signal is trusted by journalists, human rights activists and security experts worldwide, and is our recommended instant messaging app. WhatsApp, while not quite as secure, also encrypts the content of communications and benefits from being so ubiquitous that using it is unlikely (in itself) to raise suspicion in most parts of the world. Other secure messenger apps tend to be less widely used for communication between sources and our journalists. It's not uncommon for conversations with journalists to shift to instant messenger apps once both sides have established some trust and have discussed the benefits and risks. But you or the journalist may decide not to use them. Decide whether you want to do this on your normal phone or if you want to buy a less easily traceable phone for this purpose. After installing the app, make it as secure as possible: if there are extra authentication options, activate them. And activate disappearing messages so your conversations don't sit around forever on your device. Read more about Signal here and about WhatsApp here. If you're worried about surveillance and you've not used the app before, consider using it for few innocuous purposes first, such as exchanging messages with friends. That way, when you message us, your use of the app doesn't look out of the ordinary. Please don't call or send ordinary text messages to those numbers. You won't get a reply. 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