Tag Archive for: BCPS
BCPS blames ransomware cyberattack for W-2 form confusion
In Baltimore County, there is an issue with employee W-2 statements. It turns out the state of Pennsylvania actually appeared on the forms, which caused quite a bit of confusion.More than 18,000 school employees have been asking for answers as they should expect new W-2 forms online and in the mail.The issue turned up in February: First with a systemwide W-2 statement delay, and that was followed by concerns over why another state’s name was included on Maryland’s employees tax forms. It became a major concern for Baltimore County teachers who make up half of the district’s payroll.“Initially, we were getting the calls because there were wages in Maryland and Pennsylvania and people, of course, did not live in both states,” Teachers Association of Baltimore County President Cindy Sexton said.School officials blame the November 2020 ransomware cyberattack for the form foul up. The apparent breach all but crippled internal school operations, including payroll. So, what went out to employees raised a lot of concerns.“A number of our employees were simply not familiar with the look and feel and the information that was being presented on the new W-2 form,” Baltimore County Public Schools spokesman Charles Herndon said.And now new W-2 tax statements are being re-issued with corrections.“It shouldn’t be a problem with these new W-2 forms that we just released, as well as the current ones we are using as well,” Herndon said.“We’re glad that they are making them available for people. It would have been nice to have it sooner, it would have saved us all a lot of angst, but at least it is in the works now that they will be available,” Sexton said.The union says it’s gotten assurances from Maryland’s comptroller’s office that it’s working with Pennsylvania for employee extensions and the waiving of penalties and interest.Baltimore County said those new statements should be up online in the next day or so if not sooner.Due to the errors made on the W-2 forms, the state comptroller has agreed to extend the period of time for which BCPS employees may report and pay their income taxes to the state from April 15 to July 15. Read the full letter here.Meanwhile, for…
BCPS: Virtual learning to resume as ransomware investigation continues
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Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Greg Ng, Tim Tooten, WBAL-TV 11
Baltimore County Public Schools students will resume virtual learning Wednesday as officials continue to investigate the ransomware cyberattack.
The ransomware cyberattack, which the BCPS information technology department discovered a week ago Tuesday, impacted the district’s website, email and grading system. It forced school offices to close since Nov. 25.
BCPS Superintendent Darryl Williams said the district plans to resume virtual instruction for all students Wednesday.
“We are happy to affirm that school will resume tomorrow for all students,” Williams said Tuesday afternoon. “Our teachers and our staff have gone above and beyond in terms of their dedication, determination and patience needed to successfully weather this crisis.”
According to officials, schools will follow what would have been their schedule for Monday. For a more detailed look at what BCPS has planned for instructional staff and students, tap here.
Williams said instruction may look and feel different and to expect a different experience because of the new platform.
“We have been attempting to reestablish our instructional path so that teachers and students can once again participate in virtual face-to-face meetings and perform the base level of our instruction,” said Jim Corns, executive director of the BCPS Department of Information Technology.
Corns said officials have been working to regain access to Schoology so that students and teachers could log in and reestablish connections with Google so that Google Meet can be used.
“Our students tomorrow will see the same Schoology that they’ve been familiar with. Their assignments are still present, their grades are still in Schoology, their information that their teachers had posted prior to the ransomware attack is available in Schoology for them as well,” Corns said.
Corns said crews have reestablished the district’s website to provide updates to staff and families.
Over the weekend, the district gave the go ahead to safely use BCPS-issued Chromebooks and BCPS Google…
Ransomware cyberattack leaves behind damage on BCPS system
Baltimore County Public Schools information technology personnel are spending Thanksgiving trying to undo the damage caused by a ransomware cyberattack.Officials discovered the breach late Tuesday night.Computer experts said school systems are becoming a frequent target of cyberattacks. According to anti-malware company Emsisoft, 77 school districts across the country have been impacted by ransomware so far this year, disrupted learning to 1,582 schools, including in Baltimore County.The cyberattack on BCPS may be the work of the Ryuk cartel, an organization that sells ransomware as a service to customers. BCPS officials nor police have confirmed a Ryuk connection.Cybersecurity experts said Ryuk ransomware is commonly used in attacks on the public sector, including school systems.”There’s a whole black market of people out there who are finding vulnerabilities and building exploits and often selling them to the highest bidder, then they are used in these types of attacks,” said Avi Rubin, technical director at the Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute.The ransomware locks access to data. It took more than two months for two school districts in New Mexico to repair Ryuk ransomware damage.”We are at the end of a marking period. I know other staff are concerned. They’e been on during the evenings, doing grading, report cards. There’s that additional concern,” said Elena Lomicky, a Baltimore County kindergarten teacher.Emsisoft cybersecurity expert Brett Callow does not believe the ransomware got into the school system through an email.”The hackers will likely have gained an initial foothold in the districts network days or even weeks ago. They’ll then have spent time hacking their way deeper into the network so that they can cause the maximum damage when they finally start to encrypt files,” Callow said.Baltimore County has not said whether there is a ransom demand. Experts advise against paying one.”One, is you are rewarding them for this malicious activity. You are also helping to build up their resources to launch further attacks,” Rubin said.Baltimore County already had schools closed through Monday. The school superintendent said Wednesday there is no…