School system hacked, 'disturbing' email sent to students

Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School. Photo / pnins.school.nz

A Palmerston North school has been forced to suspend all email services after the school system was hacked and a 'disturbing' message was sent to students.

Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School alerted parents to the hack on Sunday night. The disturbing email was sent to students' gmail accounts.

Kia ora everyone, It is with disappointment that we inform our community that our school emails have been hacked and a...

Posted by PNINS on Saturday, 14 April 2018

The school said it was taking the matter "extremely seriously". It has reported it to the police, and its IT specialists are working to track its origin.

At first the school suspended all gmail accounts after the hack, but it has now widened that to include all emails on the school system.

The Herald has been sent a copy of the email that was sent to pupils' email addresses.

The email is extremely sexually explicit, and references teachers at the school.