One in three secondaries have been rocked by cyber-attacks in the last year, prompting warnings from the exams regulator that scores of children鈥檚 coursework could be lost. Schools and colleges in the northwest were the hardest hit by the incidents, with some taking more than half a term to recover, an Ofqual-commissioned . A third of secondary teachers also admitted they have not received cyber-security training this year 鈥� as one revealed it was 鈥渦tter chaos鈥� after their school was targeted. 鈥淸It happened] last summer before results days. From then on, all teaching staff were unable to access anything, so could not prepare for the year,鈥� the teacher, who asked to remain anonymous, said. 鈥淲hen back in school, we could not use the desktops and there were not enough laptops. This went on for weeks and was utter chaos.鈥� Another teacher told how an incident at their school 鈥渃aused a dip in belief about the security of our systems and led to difficult conversations with parents鈥�. ‘Critically damaging’ attacks Thirty-four per cent of the schools that responded to the Teacher Tapp survey, which polled secondaries across England, had experienced a cyber incident over the last academic year. Most commonly, they (23 per cent) had been hit by phishing attacks. The northwest was the worst-hit, with 40 per cent of schools having cyber problems, compared to 28 per cent in the east of England. Nine per cent of heads said the attacks were 鈥渃ritically damaging鈥�. Around 20 per cent could not recover immediately, with 4 per cent taking more than half a term. The survey also revealed that 33 per cent of secondary teachers had not received cyber-security training this year. Of the two-thirds that had training, 66 per cent said it was useful. Amanda Swann, 翱蹿辩耻补濒鈥檚 executive director of general qualifications, stressed 鈥渕any schools and colleges take cyber security seriously鈥� but noted 鈥渢his poll highlights that there is more to be done鈥�. 鈥淟osing coursework that is the result of many hours of hard work is every student鈥檚 nightmare. Even more distressing is losing a whole class or year group鈥檚 coursework because of weak cyber security on a school or college IT system.鈥� She is urging teachers and leaders to visit the National Cyber Security Centre鈥檚 school resource guide to learn how to defend against cyber-attacks.