A Cyberattack Forces a British Secondary School to Close

With the exception of students taking exams, the 1,428 pupils of Great Marlow School were required to stay at home.

A cybersecurity incident forced Great Marlow School, a secondary school in Buckinghamshire, England, to send home most of its 1,428 students on June 11, 2026, for the second consecutive day. Only students sitting examinations were allowed to attend the school.

Great Marlow School will remain closed while it works with cybersecurity experts to “resolve the incident,” in accordance with guidance from the Department for Education and the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). The British education and early-years sector experienced nearly 2,000 cyberattacks between 2019 and 2025, including 259 last year.

Underscoring the persistence of this threat, the University of Nottingham confirmed on June 10, 2026, that it had suffered a data breach. The cybercriminal group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for stealing 40 GB of information, some of it highly sensitive.

The stolen database reportedly includes names, addresses, telephone numbers, ethnic backgrounds, disability information, and passport numbers. It also contains information related to university admissions and tuition fee payments, including banking details.