WTKR reports: New Kent County Public Schools were subjected to a ransomware cyber attack, the school district’s superintendent announced Tuesday. In a message to families, Brian J. Nichols said the files located on the district’s internal hard drive have been encrypted, meaning they are unable to access the files without paying a ransom. He says…
Category: Education Sector
Nampa School District: Instruction Continuing in Wake of Cyber Attack
District continuing efforts to restore network systems. As we continue working to mitigate the effects of the Aug. 21 cyber attack on our districtwide network systems, we recognize the many challenges faced by our staff and families. If you need to communicate with your child’s school and have not received a response to your email,…
Portland Public Schools Recovers $2.9 Million Lost in BEC Scam
Sergiu Gatlan reports: Oregon urban school district Portland Public Schools is on track to recover roughly $2.9 million wired by district employees to a BEC scammer, after discovering the fraudulent transactions before the money left the fraudster’s accounts. Portland Public Schools is a PK-12 urban school district in Portland, Oregon, with over 49,000 students enrolled in 81 schools,…
Rockville Centre pays almost $100G to hackers after ransomware attack, officials say
Joie Tyrrell reports: The Rockville Centre school district paid almost $100,000 to restore its data after being hacked with a ransomware virus that encrypted files on the system’s server until payment was made to unlock the information, officials said Friday. The Nassau County district was among several statewide targeted by a ransomware virus that encrypts…
Arizona State University accidentally reveals email addresses of 4,000 students in HIPAA breach
3TV reports: Arizona State University has notified 4,000 students that their email addresses “were accidentally revealed” in a large data breach. ASU told the students on Aug. 16 it happened in late July when a university office sent bulk emails about renewing health insurance coverage without masking the identities of the recipients. Read more on…
Cyberattacks targeting post-secondary students on the rise, but most not taking sufficient steps to protect their data
Nicole Bogart reports: Cyberattacks targeting post-secondary students are becoming increasingly common, but new research shows only 15 per cent of Canadian students have taken extra steps to protect their online data. According to research from cybersecurity firm McAfee, publically disclosed cyberattacks targeting the education sector increased 50 per cent year-over-year in the first quarter of…