A PRIMARY school has become the latest victim of political hackers based more than 3,000 miles away.

North Mundham Primary School joins the Israeli and US governments, Coca Cola and the UN in being targeted by Turkish nationalist activists Ayy?ld?z Tim.

Sussex Police received several reports about a hack of the Chichester school’s website on Sunday evening when its home page changed to a Turkish crest and a message written in Turkish.

The attack comes as cyber security experts warn small businesses and public bodies are being increasingly targeted by hackers.

Mystery surrounds why the school was targeted by the hack now being investigated by Sussex Police and the website’s developer.

The message included in English “Hello Admin, System Hacked” while other sentences in Turkish referenced Allah, becoming a friend to Turkey and “revenge is delayed but never resurrected”.

Headteacher Julia Carey said: “We would like to reassure everyone we are being as vigilant as we always are in our care of pupils and staff. School is carrying on as usual. Sussex Police tell us they believe this incident was largely malicious in nature, rather than a hostile threat.”

A police spokesman said: “The images and general content of the hacked site caused concern among parents about the safety of their children at the school.

“Police would like to reassure parents, staff and the community that initial investigations have not identified any specific threat and no credible or specific intelligence has been received to suggest anyone is in danger.”

Cyber experts warned public bodies and small businesses were being targetted because their defences were less sophisticated than large firms.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust detected two “ransom ware” cyber attacks in 2015 with one lasting for eight hours, according to a Freedom of Information response to The Argus.

Brighton and Hove City Council detected two attempted cyber-attacks in the first half of 2016/17, as well as attempts in 2014/15 and 2013/14.

In January 2016, Lincolnshire Council had its computer systems down for four days by a malware attack with a £1 million ransom in the highest profile attack on public bodies to date.

A hospital trust spokesman said: “The trust’s systems are regularly bombarded by various scans and probes, however our security systems are configured to decline this traffic.

“Since the trust is part of the larger NHS infrastructure, there are many layers to this security that we do not manage directly which add to the protection of our local network.”

A council spokesman said: “We take cyber-security very seriously, and keep potential threats under constant review.

“We have a team dedicated to information security and work closely with independent third party suppliers to ensure our cyber-security defences are regularly independently tested and are continuously improving.”

Anyone with information on the North Mundham hack should contact Sussex Police on 101 quoting serial 1137 of 23/04.