Ransomware attack blocked systems at Swiss vocational school BBZ Schaffhausen

The Berufsbildungszentrum Schaffhausen, a German-language vocational training centre in the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen, was hit by a ransomware attack on October 2, 2024 and identified the intrusion the following day. The school teaches around 1,800 apprentices and students in fields including nursing and construction, and employs about 170 people.

The canton's education department said the attackers got in through a security gap in the school's firewall and deployed encryption malware on its servers, blocking access to several systems. A ransom was demanded.

The school's IT team worked with external specialists and cantonal authorities to contain the incident and restore systems, and a police report was filed. The BBZ did not pay the attackers. Officials said the IT systems of the canton of Schaffhausen itself were not affected.

Whether personal data had been copied remained undetermined when the attack was made public on October 21, 2024, with the school saying that could only be answered once its analysis was complete. Employees, parents, apprentices and partner training companies were informed, and lessons went ahead as normal after the autumn break. The Record placed the incident within a run of ransomware attacks on German-speaking schools and universities in Switzerland and Germany during 2024.