Breach UK Department for Education confirms data breach affecting over 600,000 records July 30, 2026 Share By SC Staff (Adobe Stock) As reported by IT Pro, the UK's Department for Education (DfE) has confirmed a significant data breach, with hackers accessing over 600,000 records containing sensitive information. The breach, claimed by the ExfilSquad hacking group, exposed names, job titles, and phone numbers of head teachers, university staff, and government officials. The data was accessed through the DfE’s Help Desk Self-Service Portal and the Turing Scheme Portal. While the DfE states the risk to individuals is low and that the breached data cannot be connected, cybersecurity experts warn that this information is a high-value target for spear-phishing campaigns. The education sector is increasingly targeted globally, with the UK's education industry being the most frequently targeted in June. This incident, following other public sector breaches, highlights the vulnerability of help desk and third-party support systems, prompting calls for a wider review of sensitive data storage and monitoring across government IT estates. The DfE is working with the National Cyber Security Centre and the National Crime Agency to address the incident. Source: IT Pro SC Staff Related Breach Brinks Home confirms data breach after ShinyHunters claims attack SC Staff July 30, 2026 Brinks Home identified the attack on July 20, though the ShinyHunters extortion gang claimed the breach occurred on July 13. Breach Stack Sports notifies users of payment card data exposure SC Staff July 29, 2026 Stack Sports discovered suspicious activity on June 8, 2026, after its internal security monitoring systems detected unauthorized activity affecting the Sports Affinity platform. Breach Origin Energy confirms data breach impacting millions of customers SC Staff July 24, 2026 Following insights from Bleeping Computer, Australian energy provider Origin Energy has confirmed a significant data breach affecting potentially millions of its customers, exposing a range of personally identifiable information. Get daily email updates SC Media's daily must-read of the most current and pressing daily news Business Email By clicking the Subscribe button below, you agree to SC Media Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . Subscribe Related Terms Attack Vector You can skip this ad in 5 seconds