Investigation after online classes hacked

Gardai and Tusla are investigating an incident on Wednesday in which a live online class at a Meath school was hacked by a group of adults.

The Louth Meath Education and Training Board has confirmed that a number of adults accessed a live class being delivered to a small mixed group of second year students. The school involved is understood to be Colaiste De Lacy, Ashbourne.

"The behaviour of the these individuals was such that the teacher terminated the class. The school took immediate action to respond to this incident. The relevant authorities were informed, including TUSLA and An Garda Siochana, as would be the norm in a situation like this," according to a statement issued by LMETB.

"As a precaution the school also suspended the use of online classes pending a review of the circumstances by our ICT team. The parents and guardians of all 2nd year students were informed of the occurrence by the school and support was offered to any students affected. "LMETB also took the opportunity to inform the Department of Education of the occurrence. School management teams at all of our schools were briefed about the incident,".

The statement outlined that LMETB’s focus now was to support students and teaching staff and maintain the continuity of teaching and learning.

"Enhanced security settings have been deployed which, we are confident, will prevent any recurrence. LMETB is disappointed that the entire school community’s efforts to support remote learning during this time of national crisis should be undermined by such mindless behaviour. However we remain determined to play our part in the fight against Covid by continuing to provide remote learning opportunities and by supporting our school communities."