Detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland Cyber Crime Investigation Team arrested a 16-year-old male in the Portadown area on Wednesday, April 15. The arrest targeted suspicion of offences under Sections 1, 2 and 3A of the Computer Misuse Act 1990. The male was released pending further enquiries. A follow-up search took place.

The arrest relates to an ongoing investigation into network intrusion activity reported on Thursday, April 2, involving the Education Authority. The intrusion affected the C2k system, which provides online and IT systems to schools across Northern Ireland.

The Education Authority confirmed the incident as a targeted attack on a small number of schools. Some personal data was compromised in the attack. The authority learned of specific access to personal data on the afternoon of Friday, April 10, from forensic experts.

The Education Authority notified the PSNI and the Information Commissioner's Office upon receiving this advice. Additional security measures were deployed at the beginning of the month after detection of the incident.

Efforts continue to reconnect schools fully to the C2k system and restore all impacted systems to normal operation. The authority assesses the incident as contained. Notification of affected individuals and schools is in progress, guided by investigation findings and advice from the PSNI and Information Commissioner's Office.