Cyber criminals are blackmailing schools with sexually explicit AI deepfakes of pupils created using photos taken from school websites, experts have warned. Research published on Monday found that there is widespread awareness of the issue among UK schools, though few protections are in place. Of 250 teachers surveyed, nearly a quarter said that their school has already been affected. The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said criminals had targeted schools by creating child sexual abuse material (CSAM) of real pupils using AI tools. They then threatened to publish the images if they did not receive money. The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) issued a recommendation to educational institutions to remove any identifiable pictures of children from their websites and social media accounts. “It is absolutely vital that schools nationwide rethink their policy around online images of their pupils,” child psychotherapist Dr Catherine Knibbs told The Independent .…