For pupils looking for an easy way to pass an upcoming exam, it was an opportunity too good to miss.

But when the 15-year-old students hacked into what they thought was their teacher’s laptop left unattended for a few minutes, they found much more than answers to the test.

The teens from a school in southern Russia had actually stumbled across a picture of their teacher posing in her sexy underwear.

Within seconds of finding the intimate image of Natalia Molokova, 34, the goggle-eyed students shared snap with friends in the school in Rostov.

Now the humiliated history teacher has refused to return to the classroom since the photo went viral, having been distributed around the internet and social networks.

It is understood the image was taken from the teacher’s boyfriend’s laptop after it was left on in the classroom for a few minutes.

The local authority are now investigating the release of the highly personal photograph.

‘Her boyfriend had the picture in his laptop but left it in the classroom for a few minutes,’ explained one colleague.

‘When he came back the pupils had copied it, emailed it and it was all over social networks within a few minutes.

‘His girlfriend teaches history at another school but all the children there have seen it too,’ they added.

‘Education officials say police are investigating the incident.

‘Clearly her privacy has been breached in a major way,’ according to a local authority spokesman.

Viral: The cunning teenagers were looking for the answers to a forthcoming exam on an unattended laptop when they found an intimate pictured of their teacher. (File photo)

Probe: The local authority in the town of Rostov, Russia, pictured, are investigating how the intimate image of history teacher Natalia Molokova was released

Read more: Daily Mail