The laptops that are being supplied to the children in schools operating in Bradford, Lincolnshire, and Wolverhampton are reported to be filled with Russian malware. The issue was confirmed by the school teachers of the respective schools, who added that the PCs were likely contacting the servers operating in the nation led by Vladimir Putin.
As per the sources reporting to our Cybersecurity Insiders, laptops contain a malware named Gamarue.I, which was first identified by Microsoft in 2021.
And the highlight of this malware is that if left untouched, the worm can download files on to a PC and can also infect the devices connecting to the infected PCs via USB drives.
UK’s Department of Education (DfE) has taken a note of the problem on a serious note and is busy investigating.
Bradford council has confirmed the incident and stated that such espionage activities been conducted through malware are a threat to the National Integrity and are deeply condemned.
Prima facie reveals the laptops were supplied to the school districts by a reseller named XMA and the government has paid £12 million to supply 69,000 laptops in order to support school kids in their online classes regime.
Recently, XMA received a contract addition to supplying an extra 60K computing devices at a cost of £22 million.
UK govt is committed to support the education of poorer kids during lock down and has supplied over 800,000 devices between July to November 2020.
Wonder what will be the response of Education Secretary Gavin Williamson on the issue….?
