Cyberattacks on Schools
Wednesday classes were cancelled at the South Redford School District in Michigan for the second straight day after hackers infiltrated the school’s computer systems. South Redford officials announced, “At this time, Cyber Forensic teams are advising the District to remain closed for (Wednesday).”
Increase risk of attacks on school systems
The SensCy cybersecurity team has been monitoring the rise of cyberattacks, including ransomware attacks on school districts across the country. Today’s attack comes less than a week after a hacker group attacked the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest district in the United States.
SensCy’s leadership believes hackers are likely to continue to target schools, primarily K-12, due to the lack of security measures around the computer systems in those schools. We believe that hackers are targeting schools nationwide to gain access to personal information regarding staff, students, and their families.
Our observations are supported by the “Cybersecurity Advisory” released jointly by the FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, to warn of a cyber gang known as Vice Society that has been “disproportionately targeting the education sector with ransomware attacks.” The documents provide more information about the group, information on Indicators of Compromise (IOCs), mitigation tips, and reporting guidelines.