U.S. Education Dept. responds to TheDarkOverlord attacks with new cyber advisory

Summary
Schools have long been targets for cyber thieves and criminals.  We are writing to let you know of a new threat, where the criminals are seeking to extort money from school districts and other educational institutions on the threat of releasing sensitive data from student records.  In some cases, this has included threats of violence, shaming, or bullying the children unless payment is received.

These attacks are being actively investigated by the FBI, and it is important to note that none of the threats of violence have thus far been judged to be credible.  At least three states have been affected.

How to Protect Yourself
The attackers are likely targeting districts with weak data security, or well-known vulnerabilities that enable the attackers to gain access to sensitive data. This may be in the form of electronic attacks against school/district computers or applications, malicious software, or even through phishing attacks against staff or employees.

IT Staff at Schools / Districts are encouraged to protect your organizations by

• conducting security audits to identify weaknesses and update/patch vulnerable systems;
• ensuring proper audit logs are created and reviewed routinely for suspicious activity;
• training staff and students on data security best practices and phishing/social engineering awareness; and
• reviewing all sensitive data to verify that outside access is appropriately limited.