Thomas P. Caldwell reports: Newfound Area School District is recovering from a Nov. 15 cyber breach, described as a ransomware attack because it locked users out, although the unknown hacker did not make a financial demand. Jason Sgro, a senior partner at the Atom Group, the cyber response company based in Portsmouth working to restore…
Category: Education Sector
Why federal efforts to protect schools from cybersecurity threats fall short
The cost of safeguarding America’s schools from cybercriminals could run as high as $5 billion. boonchai wedmakawand via Getty Images Nir Kshetri, University of North Carolina – Greensboro In August 2023, the White House announced a plan to bolster cybersecurity in K-12 schools – and with good reason. Between 2018 and mid-September 2023, there were…
Former employee of Massachusetts high school pleads guilty in cyberattack
Updating a recent post, Russ Reed reports: A former information technology manager at a Massachusetts high school pleaded guilty Wednesday to targeting the school’s network during a cyberattack earlier this year. Conor LaHiff, 30, of Ayer, pleaded guilty in Boston’s federal court to one count of unauthorized damage to protected computers, according to the U.S….
Prolonged internet outage forces Henry County Schools to return to basics
Leon Stafford reports: Under normal circumstances, Henry County teacher Samantha Hawthrone’s third graders would pull out their Chromebooks when building pie charts and histograms. But last week, Hawthrone’s Austin Road Elementary School class was constructing bar graphs the old-fashioned way — on paper printed out for each student. Instead of building the charts using a…
UK: Corringham school apologizes after sharing personal pupil data
Stuart Woodward and Shivani Chaudhari report: A school has apologised for sending an email to parents which listed the personal data of 69 pupils who were being disciplined for bad behaviour. The principal at Ortu Gable Hall School in Corringham, Essex, said the email was sent by mistake and parents were asked to delete it….
Hinsdale schools struck by ransomware attack (1)
The Brattleboro Reformer reports: The Hinsdale school district is attempting to recover from a ransomware attack that occurred on Thursday morning. “School district officials are working with Primex, its cyber insurance provider, and a professional cybersecurity response team to assess the situation,” states information release by SAU 29 Superintendent David Ryan. Read more. Update December…