Vanessa Miller reports: The University of Iowa is investigating a “handful” of possible cases of cheating — and warning the entire campus community to change their HawkID passwords — after a faculty member discovered a student’s grade had been changed without authorization. A university official confirmed the investigation Thursday after UI Chief Information Security Officer…
Category: Education Sector
No payoff for hackers, Arkansas school district says
Jack Sandlin reports: Computer hackers infected the Valley Springs School District‘s computer system with malicious software Thursday, locking access and demanding a ransom to restore its files and programs. The hackers demanded a payment of 7,000 British pounds — about $8,500 U.S. dollars — from the school district, Superintendent Judy Green said Friday. The hackers…
MA: Dracut schools employee data hacked after employee falls for phishing attempt
Employees of Dracut Public Schools in Massachusetts weren’t as fortunate as those at Kanawha County Schools in West Virginia. Rick Sobey and Todd Feathers report that current and former employees’ personal information, including SSN, was acquired by a hacker after an employee fell for what the district describes as a “sophisticated phishing scheme.” They did not report…
WV: Internal documents restored after ransomware hack on school district
WSAZ reports that Kanawha County Schools tell them their internal documents have been restored after a ransomware hack that occurred Wednesday evening. No personal information was reportedly accessed in the attack, and it appears that the school district did not pay any ransom. There’s no indication as yet as to how the attacker was able to inject the…
Ball State U. sends ‘accidental email,’ violates FERPA
Oops. The Ball State Daily reports: An email sent out on Tuesday did more than just inform students about their academic status. Students who earned a GPA below 2.0 were notified in December about their academic progress, and on Jan. 10, another email was intended to inform students about ways to improve their GPAs. But…
Princeton University becomes victim of MongoDB ransom attacks
Princeton University became one of the more than 27,000 entities that recently had their databases wiped by attackers who claim that if victims pay ransom, they’ll get their data back. The attackers have been able to access and overwrite databases in MongoDB installations that were left open on Port 27017. With no login or authentication required, anyone can access…