St Andrew's CE High School Listed by beast Ransomware Group: Ransomware Claim — What’s Alleged & What To Do

On January 20, 2026, the ransomware group beast listed St Andrew's CE High School on its leak site and claimed to have carried out a ransomware attack that included the exfiltration of internal files. The number of individuals affected has not been disclosed, and no further details about the timing, scale or method of the incident have been made public. Ransomware operations that combine encryption with data theft continue to affect public-sector organisations, including schools, as threat actors seek both operational disruption and leverage from stolen records.

Breaking down the breach

The only confirmed public information is the listing itself. The group claims internal files were removed during a ransomware attack, but the school has not issued a statement confirming or denying the incident. No figure has been released for the volume of data or the number of people whose information may be involved. Timing of the intrusion, the entry method and whether any systems were encrypted remain undisclosed.

The group behind it: beast

Beast is a ransomware operation that maintains a public leak site where it lists victims and posts samples of claimed stolen data. The group follows the double-extortion model common among contemporary ransomware actors: it seeks both to encrypt systems and to threaten publication of exfiltrated material. Beast has appeared in multiple public listings across different sectors in recent years, though independent verification of each claim is required on a case-by-case basis.

Who is St Andrew's CE High School?

St Andrew's CE High School is a co-educational secondary school serving the Worthing area. It provides standard secondary education alongside extracurricular programmes and is currently undertaking renovations to its sports and STEM facilities. Like other secondary schools, it maintains records on current and former students, staff and routine administrative matters.

The information in question

The listing refers only to “internal files.” No inventory of specific data categories has been released. Schools of this type routinely hold student enrolment details, attendance records, limited contact information and staff administration files, yet the precise contents of any exfiltrated material in this case are unconfirmed.

The real-world impact

Exposure of internal school files can create privacy risks for students and staff if names, addresses or other identifiers are present. For the institution, the incident may involve costs related to investigation, system restoration and any required notifications. Educational continuity can be affected if access to records or online services is disrupted during recovery.

If your data was in this claimed breach

Monitor bank and email accounts for unusual activity and consider placing fraud alerts with credit reference agencies if personal identifiers appear to have been exposed. Use strong, unique passwords and enable multi-factor authentication on important accounts. Readers can run a free exposure scan of their email address against known breach data sets to check for appearances in previously published lists.

AICompiled with AI assistance from public sources and published under our editorial standards.