Cyber incidents - update

Update on Thursday 22 January 2026:

The recent cyber incident has now been contained and we have begun re-enabling our adult, education-based accounts.

Robust and decisive steps have been taken to deal with this as quickly and safely as possible and we are taking all appropriate steps to determine the impact of this incident and we will be in touch with anyone directly affected.

We have worked closely with all relevant agencies and do not believe the incident to be a ransomware attack.

We remain vigilant to the threat of cyber security issues faced by all public sector organisations and take the matter of security and the data we hold incredibly seriously.

We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused and thank everyone for their patience.

The following update was issued to parents and carers earlier today:

We are pleased to inform you that work to begin the enabling of our digital education systems is underway.

This means we are starting to switch on our adult, education-based Microsoft accounts. This will be done in phases, over several days.

A gradual approach means we can better support everyone as they come back online. Please be assured, we have enhanced security and monitoring in place, and we are taking all appropriate steps to determine the impact of this incident, and we will be in touch with anyone directly affected.

The council will continue to work with the relevant authorities and partners as part of our recovery.

We apologise for any disruption you may have experienced and would like to thank all our parents, carers, teachers and young learners for their patience.

Updates on Monday 19 January 2026:

Inverclyde Council has experienced cyber incidents which include an education user account being compromised.

We continue to work with the relevant authorities and partners.

We do not believe these incidents to be ransomware attacks.

The following message was issued to parents on Sunday 18 January 2026:

We are contacting you today to highlight a recent cyber incident where a user account has been compromised.

All schools and early year establishments will open as normal on Monday morning.

We have activated our response plans and as a precautionary step, we have taken our schools temporarily offline while we investigate.

Work to determine the cause and impact of this continues and we are liaising with school teams and our suppliers to minimise disruption.

• Schools and early years centres will not be able to access emails but if you have an urgent email, please contact [email protected]
• School lunches and breakfast clubs will operate as normal however there may be difficulties accessing the pre-order app in secondary and your child may have to order lunch at the school canteen.
• School transport is unaffected.

We apologise for any inconvenience and thank you for your continued patience.

We will provide more information as soon as we can.

Page last updated: 22 January 2026