More schools than first thought have been hit by a 'significant' ransomware cybercrime attack.

As the Isle of Wight County Press first reported earlier, Isle of Wight Education Federation sites Medina College, Carisbrooke College and the Island VI Form have lost access to their websites and data - which has been encrypted by cyber criminals. 

It has now emerged that Barton and Hunnyhill primaries in Newport and Lanesend Primary in Cowes have also been hit by what has been described as a 'significant' cyber attack.

In a statement on its Facebook page, Lanesend Primary said it would delay the start of term as a result.

Karen Herbert-Duff, Chair of Trustees, said: "We are confirming how this will impact on our school as our IT provision was managed and supported by the impacted service provider.

"As you can imagine, the team now have hours, days and months of work ahead of them to recreate the information that has been lost. In order to assist with this painstaking process, the Trustees have approved the school to close for three extra days at the end of the summer holidays.

"This means the children will not be returning to school until Monday September 6.

"We ask that you are patient with the team during this period.

"It is important to stress that the information has not been downloaded or accessed by other individuals at this current time. This is unlikely to happen, but the situation is being monitored and we will keep you updated if there is any change to this."

Earlier a statement from the Isle of Wight Education Federation, which runs Medina and Carisbrooke colleges and the Island VI Form, said: "The IT systems for our Federation were compromised last week."

Isle of Wight County Press:

It said: "We are working with officers from the police Cybercrime Unit to pursue the cyber criminals and understand the full impact of the attack.

"There are obviously some significant implications of this, which we are managing and will take measures to secure our systems even further in the future.

We are working with the local Police and Authority, Department for Education, Cyber support and various ICT system providers to move this forward and ensure that necessary and appropriate systems are in place for the new academic year."