The U.S. Education Sector Becomes Latest Victim to Cyber Crime
Over the past week, there have been six different ransomware attacks reported. As if that isn’t bad enough, they all targeted the U.S. education sector.
The first three schools impacted include Sabine, Morehead, and Ouachita located in Louisana. These three attacks led Governor Edwards to declare a state of cybersecurity emergency. It is still unclear which ransomware variant corrupted these networks, or if the schools paid the ransom demands in an effort to remediate their systems.
Then, Houston County Schools of Alabama was hit by Ryuk ransomware. This led school officials to postpone the first day of fall classes, not once, but twice.
Next, Gadsden School District of New Mexico was riddled with an unknown ransomware variant, taking down the school’s email systems. Although the malware left iPads and Chromebooks unscathed, it did corrupt approximately 10,000 PCs. Additionally, the length of downtime remains unknown. The ransom demands have yet to be disclosed; however, Gadsden’s superintendent has confirmed they will not be paying them.
Lastly, Oklahoma’s Broken Arrow Schools confirmed they too fell victim after an unknown ransomware variant corrupted its networks. The school is working with external parties, including the FBI to catch the cyber criminals and are attempting to restore their networks without paying the ransom demands.
Other Attacks
These are far from the first cyber attacks to hit the education sector this year.
For a full list of ransomware attacks that have already taken place in 2019, you may click here. PC Matic also created a map, see below, of the ransomware attacks that have taken place in the U.S.
