Edinburgh council resets school network passwords after phishing attack

The City of Edinburgh Council said a member of staff spotted unusual and suspicious email activity on the IT network used by the city's schools and early years settings on the afternoon of Friday 9 May 2025. The council described it as a suspected targeted phishing attack, and contemporaneous reporting characterised it as spear phishing that reached staff through a bogus meeting invitation.

As a precaution the council reset passwords across the whole schools and early years network, including pupil accounts. That locked learners out of online revision material in the middle of the study period for the summer exam diet.

Secondary schools across the city opened on Saturday 10 May so that pupils could collect new credentials in person, with priority given to those sitting exams the following week. About 2,500 pupils were reported to have attended.

The council said no data was compromised, that the incident was contained over the weekend and that network security remained intact. It notified the Scottish Government and Police Scotland, and said the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre was assisting while monitoring continued. Education convener James Dalgleish credited staff vigilance, saying the situation could have been far worse without the quick response and the work done over the weekend to secure the networks.