The K12 Security Information eXchange (K12 SIX) is pleased to release “Cybersecurity Frameworks: What K-12 Leaders Need to Know,” a new resource for state and local education leaders encouraging the adoption of nationally recognized cybersecurity best practices. This white paper, commissioned by the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) as part of the work of…
Category: Education Sector
WA: Whitworth confirms it was victim of ransomware attack; warns thousands of students, staff of data breach
In August, Whitworth University confirmed they had experienced a cyberattack in July. In that statement, they pledged to notify those impacted right away. They didn’t — unless you have a very liberal definition of “right away.” Earlier this month, the university notified the state attorney general’s office of the breach, as The Spokesman-Review reports. As…
NZ: Prospective students caught up in University of Otago data breach
Sinead Gill reports: For six weeks, most University of Otago students, including prospective students, had their personal information unprotected. A University spokesperson told Stuff while the risk of harm was “incredibly low”, some information was potentially accessible over this period, and most students could expect to be contacted by a privacy officer.” On October 5, the University…
Mars k-12 district in Pennsylvania victim of ransomware attack; data leaked
The Vice Society added more schools to their “partners” leak site yesterday. One of them is the Mars Area School District in Pennsylvania. According to niche.com, MASD is a k-12 district with 3,334 students. In a notice posted on the district’s website on October 3, Superintendent Gross described the progress the district was making in…
How Ransomware Is Causing Chaos in American Schools
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai reports: May 19, 2021 was supposed to be just another day at the end of the school year at Sierra College, a community college in Rocklin, California. Instead, hackers hit the school with ransomware, throwing it into chaos. “We are experiencing a major cybersecurity event this morning that is impacting the majority of services…
MO: Grain Valley School District investigates cyberattack
Heidi Schmidt and Jonathan Katz report: The Grain Valley School District confirms it is investigating a cyberattack. “Basically what first went down was the printers,” student Nathan Rathmann said Wednesday about how his last three days have changed in school. “Then throughout the day, we had buggy Wi-Fi. Our power school went completely down, so…