Jay Wallis provides an update on the Allen ISD ransomware incident first reported by the district in September. Part of the district’s newly revealed findings: According to the investigation, there is no evidence that any unauthorized user got into Allen ISD’s databases, including the Student Information and Financial databases. District officials said they determined that…
Category: Education Sector
TCEA 2022: One School District Shares What Not to Do to Prevent a Ransomware Attack
Tasshi Rowe reports: “It’s like your home was robbed, and there’s nothing you can do about it. We had 800 employees and 5,200 kids, and everybody is shut down,” said Julie Gauthier. The deputy superintendent of Port Neches-Groves Independent School District in southeast Texas explained to a room full of TCEA attendees in Dallas what it…
Cyber Attacks On Schools: Who, What, Why and Now What?
Alyson Klein reports: Shadowy criminal gangs with sinister names like The Dark Overlord are terrorizing schools. They hack into district networks and then demand hundreds of thousands of dollars in ransom payments, making threats of terrible consequences if schools do not agree to hand over the money. It’s a growing problem that’s now tougher to…
Houstonian sent to prison for fraud schemes totaling nearly $2M
There is an update to a case involving the Teton School District that was first reported in 2018. Although the FBI was able to recover some of the stolen funds for the district, this was not the first time the district had suffered this type of breach. But at least now the threat actor responsible…
Williamsville CSD reveals 2021 cybersecurity breach
Spectrum News reports: The Williamsville Central School District says it was the victim of a cybersecurity breach in December. The district says a limited number of spam emails containing potential malicious links were sent to parents by an unauthorized user. The district says the State Education Department was immediately notified and the incident was resolved…
East Bay Community College Data Breached In Ransomware Attack
Shawn Taylor reports: Ohlone College was hacked in late January and the private information of some current and former students, staff and faculty was compromised, including Social Security and bank account numbers, according to school officials. The community college said in a Feb. 4 notice on its website and letters sent to students it had…