CYBER SECURITY FOR SCHOOLS, ACADEMIES AND TRUSTS — UK-WIDE
Protect and Secure
Technology provides so many exciting opportunities for schools, however they need to be thoroughly managed in order to keep data, information and pupil wellbeing safe and secure. AIT provide comprehensive IT Cyber Security for schools, keeping you and your pupils safe and secure.
From a single village primary to a 30-school trust, we build, run and defend school networks across the UK. Cyber security isn’t a bolt-on product with us — it is woven through everything we already do: IT support, installations and connectivity. One team, one number, and every layer of your defence handled by people who only work in education.
SAFE, SECURE, ONLINE
Helping schools protect against cyber-attacks
We are here to protect and secure your systems, and ensure all users are educated to make sure they understand any potential vulnerabilities. Our managed security solutions will keep everything running smoothly so your data remains compliant and secure. Data security is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity for organisations of all sizes. It’s important for your school, academy or Trust to be wholly protected against the ever evolving world of cybercrime with managed security and monitoring solutions that deliver. With a dedicated secure onsite data centre that’s ISO27001 compliant, our crafted services are designed to tackle growing threats, support users and ensure you are always protected.
Schools are now among the most-attacked organisations in the UK, and the pattern is always the same: a phishing email, a compromised account, then encrypted servers the week before results day. Because AIT already runs the helpdesk, the network and the installs for the schools we protect, our security isn’t a separate contract with a separate company — it’s the same engineers who know your site, applying protection where it actually matters. Security monitoring is included with our managed service, not sold on top.
No Licence Fees
Quick Installation
Peace of Mind
Proactive Monitoring
See your whole cyber posture on one page — with AIT Horizon
Most schools only find out how exposed they are after an incident. Every school and trust we support gets AIT Horizon, our leadership platform, included with their service — so heads, business managers and governors can see their security position at a glance, in plain English, before anything goes wrong.
- Cyber posture score. Horizon’s Executive view rolls your defences — patching, backup, filtering, account security, training — into a single posture score. A governor doesn’t need to read a technical report; they see one number, what’s moving it, and what we’re doing about it. (Example shown: a school at 82/100 with “MFA rollout” flagged as the next action — illustrative figures only.)
- Standards-by-RAG donut. Horizon’s RAG compliance tracker maps your school against the DfE digital and cyber standards and shows the result as a red/amber/green donut, built for governor packs. (Example shown: 14 standards green, 4 amber, 2 red — illustrative, not live.) In a trust, the Schools view shows the same donut per school so central teams can see which sites need attention first.
- Policies and roadmap, not just alerts. Your acceptable-use, data-protection and incident-response policies live in Horizon’s policies area with review dates tracked, and remediation work — say, replacing an unsupported server — sits on your strategy roadmap with a date against it, so cyber improvement is planned, not panicked.
- Security spend you can defend. When a fix needs budget, Horizon’s IT Finance module puts it in context: 5-year projections show what the hardware refresh cycle already covers, and software licensing tracking shows what you’re actually paying for — so replacing end-of-life kit that’s become a cyber risk is a planned line in the budget, not an emergency purchase.
Illustrative demo data
See how leaders use the Customer PortalEvery layer of school cyber security, under one roof
Cyber security fails in layers, so we defend in layers. Each service below is a full page in its own right — start with the one that’s keeping you up at night, or ask us for the whole stack.
Safeguarding and Filtering
Filtering and monitoring is where cyber security meets child protection — and where DfE scrutiny is sharpest. We design, run and evidence filtering and monitoring that meets the KCSIE expectations placed on DSLs and governors, with reporting your safeguarding lead can actually use in an inspection. If you can’t currently answer “who checked the filtering, and when?”, start here.
Managed Backup and Disaster Recovery
Ransomware doesn’t negotiate with schools that can restore. Our backup and DR service protects servers, your FMS and staff and pupil files with encrypted, monitored backups — and a rehearsed recovery plan, so a worst-case Monday becomes a bad morning rather than a lost term.
Secure Cloud Backup
Ideal for protecting your FMS, servers, pupils and staff; data, files and folders. Our fully-encrypted and secure cloud backup solutions ensure that private and important data regarding your school and your pupils is always kept safe. Once we’ve set up the cloud for you, we also keep an eye on it to ensure that everything is running smoothly. In addition to cloud backup, we also offer a disaster recovery service in case your school experiences an emergency.
Microsoft 365 Backup
Microsoft keeps 365 running; it doesn’t keep your data recoverable. Deleted Teams files, departed-staff mailboxes and malicious wiping are your problem, not Microsoft’s — which is why we back the whole tenancy up independently.
Data that’s stored in the cloud can still be lost if it’s not backed up securely. AIT offer Office 365 backups so that your school can share and store data more safely. Our automated Microsoft 365 backup solution means that all data stored within your schools M365 applications is backed up securely in the AIT Cloud. This offers your school features such as selective file restoration, version control and daily back ups.
Compromise Alerts and Phishing Training
Over nine in ten school breaches start with a person, not a firewall — so we train the person. Realistic simulations, kind coaching (never blame), and alerts the moment a staff credential shows up where it shouldn’t.
Compromise Alerts & Phishing Training
Reduced the risks of cybercriminals taking advantage of your school with our dedicated phishing simulator and bespoke training solutions. AIT Simulations can close mimic real education sector phishing emails that can be tailors to by trust, school and even department. Follow up reporting and staff coaching then develops your staff skills and awareness in identifying malicious emails.
Cyber Essentials for Schools
Cyber Essentials is fast becoming the baseline insurers, the DfE and trust boards expect. We get schools certified and — more importantly — keep them compliant between renewals, because the five controls only protect you while they’re actually maintained.
Penetration Testing for Schools
The only honest way to know if your defences work is to test them the way an attacker would. Our education-focused penetration tests probe your network, cloud tenancy and staff processes, then give you a prioritised fix list in plain English — not a 90-page PDF nobody reads.
Cyber Security Audit for Schools
Not sure where to start? A structured audit benchmarks your school against the DfE cyber security standards and KCSIE expectations, and hands SLT a costed, prioritised action plan. It’s the fastest route from “we think we’re okay” to knowing.
Physical security too? See CCTV and Access Control. Trust-wide rollout? See Multi Academy Trust IT Services.
HERE FOR YOU
Together we are stronger
Wherever your school is in the UK, you get the same defence-in-depth: vendor partnerships at the top, accredited infrastructure underneath, and a 75-strong team in between who speak school, not cyber-jargon.
We’re partnered with some of the leading security software providers in the world; coupled with our expert team you’re in safe hands. We are proud to have excellent relationships with East Midlands Cyber Police, alongside the Cyber Resilience Centre. Our Nottingham and Derby Data Centres are ISO 270001 Compliant which means we take every precaution to ensure your Data is always guarded and secure. We appreciate that sometimes things like cyber security can feel overwhelming, especially due to the complex and ever changing landscape. That’s why we’re here to remove the jargon, and build solutions which work for your school, business or organisation.
Those UK data centres, police-unit relationships and ISO-accredited processes back every school we support nationwide — your data never needs to leave the country, and neither does your support.
Regulatory Compliance
We have everything you need to meet DfE guidelines for broadband, security and safeguarding. Our security services supports full compliance with the following requirements:
- Prevent Duty
- Keeping Children Safe in Education
- Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) Block List and Image Hash List
- Home Office Terrorism Block List
- UK Safer Internet Centre
Compliance isn’t a one-off certificate — it drifts the moment a setting changes. That’s why each of these requirements is tracked in Horizon’s RAG compliance tracker: your governors see green, amber or red against every standard in the Standards-by-RAG donut, with the evidence attached. When an inspector or auditor asks how filtering decisions are reviewed, the answer is on screen, not in someone’s inbox. For the safeguarding-specific detail, see Safeguarding and Filtering.
Your school’s window into our work
Cyber security you can’t see is cyber security you can’t trust. Every AIT school logs into the Customer Portal — one door to all four of our platforms, included with our service, not sold on top:
AIT Horizon
Your leadership view: cyber posture score, Standards-by-RAG compliance, IT Finance and strategy roadmap.
Helpdesk Reporting
The Executive overview and KPI Insights on how our support is performing for your school, plus Training insights on staff development; trusts can filter per school. (All example figures illustrative.)
AIT Atlas
How we run our own operation: the people, projects and technology behind your service. Navigate. Manage. Deliver.
AIT Ordering
Security hardware from quote to PO to delivery, tracked, with catalogue and supplier management handled for you.
School cyber security — your questions answered
For AIT-supported schools, core security — proactive monitoring, patching, filtering management and helpdesk-led incident response — is included in your managed service rather than licensed separately. Additional layers such as independent Microsoft 365 backup, phishing training or penetration testing are priced per school, typically per-pupil or per-device, so a small primary never subsidises a large secondary. Call 0115 9170 197 for a quote shaped to your setting.
The DfE publishes digital and technology standards covering cyber security, filtering and monitoring, broadband and more. They’re not statutory in themselves, but KCSIE, your insurers and inspectors increasingly treat them as the baseline, and trusts are expected to evidence progress against them. We map every school we support against the standards in Horizon’s RAG compliance tracker, so you always know where you stand — and what’s planned next on your strategy roadmap.
Disconnect affected machines from the network (pull the cable or switch off Wi-Fi), don’t pay, don’t wipe anything, and call us immediately on 0115 9170 197. Report the incident to Action Fraud and, where personal data is involved, to the ICO within 72 hours. If we manage your backup and disaster recovery, restoration starts from clean, monitored backups — which is exactly why we insist on them before an incident, not after.
Accountability sits with governors and the head; day-to-day filtering and monitoring duties sit with the DSL under KCSIE; and the technical work sits with your IT provider. The failure mode is those three not sharing one picture. That’s the gap Horizon closes: governors see the posture score and Standards-by-RAG donut, the DSL sees filtering compliance, and our team works the actions — everyone looking at the same page.
No. AIT supports 249 schools and 20 trusts across the UK, from our ISO27001-accredited UK data centres, with engineers deployed nationally for on-site work and installations. Head office is in Nottingham; our service area is the country.
LETS TALK
Get in touch
We understand the unique needs and challenges that are faced by schools, and we are all about finding a solution that works for you. Get in touch with our friendly team to have a chat about how we can support you on your digital journey.
Existing customer? Log in via the Customer Portal