Schools across Northern Ireland opened during the Easter holiday to support pupils affected by a cyber attack on the C2k IT system. The Education Authority confirmed the attack targeted C2k, which provides all online and IT systems for schools.

Pupils preparing for GCSEs, AS-levels and A-levels could not access their accounts, preventing them from retrieving coursework or revision materials uploaded by teachers. Regent House school in Newtownards, County Down, opened on Tuesday for password resets, with pupils attending to regain access.

Daniel, an 18-year-old A-level student at the school, planned to complete coursework over the holiday but found himself signed out of his account. He could not contact teachers online and expressed concern due to upcoming deadlines.

Kaitlyn, 15, studying for GCSEs, missed revision sheets and homework because she could not log into Microsoft Teams. Owen, 17, taking AS-levels, felt panic after losing access to documents needed for coursework. Georgia, 16, pursuing GCSEs, could not load notes and feared falling behind.

The Education Authority held a webinar attended by more than 300 schools, with 450 more requesting recordings. Eve Bremner from the authority stated that 80% of post-primary schools were back online.

Bremner noted the incident was contained early, with no evidence of data corruption or exfiltration. The authority entered a recovery phase, with staff working continuously to restore systems.

Schools must reset passwords before pupils and staff can reconnect. The service desk stays open extended hours through the week and weekend to handle requests and reduce disruption when term resumes.