CAO insists data secure after attack

THE Central Applications Office (CAO) insists that the security of students’ data is not at risk following a malicious attack on its website, as tens of thousands tried to check for college offers yesterday morning.

The site was inaccessible for much of the morning after a “denial of service” attack meant it was bombarded with queries from an unknown source shortly after the offers went live at 6am.

The CAO is assessing the situation before deciding whether to make a complaint to gardaí. But there may be difficulty tracing the attacker as it is understood false internet provider (IP) addresses were used, making it impossible to locate the computer that was used.