Hackers Delay Texas School Opening
Hackers Ransomed the Athens School District's network, causing officials to delay the first day of school.
A well-timed Ransomware attack is paying off handsomely for cybercriminals.
The hackers hit the Athens Independent School District in Texas, and they made away with a lot of the school's money. Unfortunately, Athens ISD isn't alone. Schools in Fort Worth were also attacked earlier this year.
Access to all data has been blocked, including teacher communications, student schedules, grades and assignments.
The damage is so bad that the district delayed first day of school. (Let's not forget that parents are very ready to send those kids back to school!)
With all network access blocked, the district made the difficult decision to pay the attackers. They reportedly paid a $50,000 ransom demand to restore their systems.
“We can’t afford to not pay it. It would take us months to rebuild all that data so that we could start school.” - AISD Board President Alicea Elliott
This attack put student and faculty data at risk, delayed critical education and enriched criminals somewhere in the world.
Across the country, lots of schools have been attacked recently. These attacks need to be stopped.
Are you ready to take action?
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