Baltimore County Public Schools Hit By Ransomware Attack
Baltimore County Public Schools has been hit today by a ransomware attack that led to a systemic shutdown of its network due to the number of systems impacted in the attack.
The Baltimore County school district manages all public schools in Baltimore County, Maryland, and is the 25th largest U.S. school system.
Online schooling and offices shut down
Mychael Dickerson, the district’s Chief of Staff, confirmed that the attack affected the public school district’s offices, website, email system, and grading system.
The district also had to suspend all virtual learning and to close offices following the ransomware attack that hit its systems.
“Due to issues with our network, all Baltimore County Public Schools will be closed today, Wednesday, November 25, 2020,” he said.
“Baltimore County Public Schools can now confirm we were the victim of a Ransomeware [sic] cyber attack,” Dickerson later added.
“This caused systemic interruption to our network information systems. Our BCPS technology team is working to address the situation. Updates as available.”
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Depending on the ransomware gang that encrypted the school district’s systems, this attack may also result in a data breach if employee and student information has been stolen from the district’s computers.
Right now, more than 20 ransomware operations are stealing sensitive documents from their victims’ servers before encrypting network systems.
Baltimore students urged to only use district-issued devices
The Baltimore City Public Schools district has also published an alert on its website urging students to only use school-issued devices for virtual learning.
“Students participating in virtual learning should only use City Schools-issued laptops or devices,” the notification reads.
“Do not use devices issued by Baltimore County schools or your personal laptop or computer. Students without access to a City Schools-issued device will be granted an excused absence.”
No government systems impacted, this time
Baltimore County told WMAR that it found no evidence of government systems having been compromised during the ransomware attack.
However, in May 2019, Baltimore City Hall wasn’t as lucky as some of its government servers were encrypted in a RobbinHood ransomware attack.
At the time, the city had to shut down the majority of its servers to prevent the malware from spreading and encrypting other systems.
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Today’s ransomware attack is the third one in the last three years after Baltimore city’s emergency call system was disrupted in March 2018, with the staff having to switch to manual operations to handle all incoming emergency calls according to NBC NEWS.
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