Catalin Cimpanu reports: The University of Utah revealed today that it paid a ransomware gang $457,059 in order to avoid having hackers leak student information online. The incident is the latest in a long string of ransomware attacks where criminal groups steal sensitive files from the hacked companies before encrypting their files; and in case…
Category: Education Sector
Baugo Community Schools dealing with cyber attack
WNDU in Indiana reports that the unnamed ISP for Baugo Community Schools has been the target of cyberattacks that began Monday morning. Officials say no Baugo Community Schools data has been compromised. However, the cyber attacks have disrupted virtual learning. Read more on WNDU.
Jefferson Parish Schools data breach exposes 86 students’ information
Faimon Roberts reports: A data breach that exposed 86 Jefferson Parish public school students’ confidential student portal log information to more than 40,000 families was caused by a problem with a vendor, a school system spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday. […] When system officials began to receive calls about the problem, they contacted EdGear, the vendor that…
OK: Ponca City Public Schools Address Cyber Attack
It’s nice to see a school district report that they had a usable backup to restore from following a ransomware attack. Katelyn Ogle reports Ponca City Schools may not be able to restore all of their data, but they are recovering from the attack. Superintendent Arrott said the district discovered ransomware criminals attacked PowerSchool, the…
NY: RCSD reopening forum hacked on Zoom
As schools re-open, zoom-bombing continues to pose a threat. With districts planning to use virtual learning, you’d hope that they would have Zoom configured to prevent zoom-bombing that results in pornography or racist comments or other inappropriate content being disrupting programs. On Saturday, an urban New York school district found out it wasn’t adequately secured….
NC: Lawsuit: ‘Alarming’ data breach at Coastal Prep Academy exposed sensitive personal data
Benjamin Schachtman reports: According to a letter sent to parents by Coastal Preparatory Academy and a lawsuit filed in Superior Court, a former employee obtained extremely sensitive personal information about parents and students, including social security numbers, health and financial information, and employment records. The charter school has filed several civil actions to recover passwords,…