School’s home-learning app ‘hacked’ using a ‘fake profile’
UNEXPECTED POSTS APPEARED, INCLUDING IMAGES OF A CHILD AND CARTOON ANIMAL
THE head teacher of a Nottinghamshire school has responded after “unexpected posts” were made through a home-learning app from a fake profile.
On Friday night, picture posts were made through an account on the remote learning Classdojo system at Stanhope Primary and Nursery School in Gedling.
The account was not connected to the school and the pictures have since been removed.
The posts, seen by the Post, appeared to show images of a child on a webcam and a cartoon creature or animal.
All staff have since been asked to check their accounts and change their passwords to prevent it happening again.
Clasdojo allows schoolchildren to log on to the school system from home to complete work set by their teachers while at home during the coronavirus lockdown.
Responding to the incident, Amanda Richards, head teacher at Stanhope
Primary and Nursery School, told the Post: “On Friday night there were some unexpected posts on our Classdojo account. These posts were not from our school and have now been deleted. “We take IT security very seriously. I have raised this issue with our IT department and the company that provides Classdojo and I have also informed parents.
“I have asked all our staff to check their accounts and change their passwords. We will continue to monitor our account and do all that we can to prevent this from happening again.” A concerned parent whose child attends the school told the Post: “It’s worrying because what if it happened while they were on the system and the images were inappropriate or abusive language was used. “Someone has managed to hack into the system with a fake profile and leave images. It’s all very weird. Parents are very disappointed by the lack of advice and action taken by the school.” The Post contacted Classdojo for comment but had not received a response in time for this edition.
We will continue to monitor our account and do all that we can to prevent this from happening again Amanda Richards