Tag Archive for: SCHOOLS.

Schools for the Deaf and the Blind will re-open next week following building fire

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ROMNEY, W.Va. — The West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind will welcome students back to campus next week after a recent fire destroyed the school’s administration building.

The Feb. 26 blaze damaged key services and utilities, including internet servers, telephone services and security camera surveillance. No one was injured during the fire.

The administration building was built in the 1800s. The building was vacant at the time of the fire; offices and personnel moved to other spaces late last year. Historical contents of the building were cataloged amid the move.

Students were away from campus at the time of the fire.

“This was more than a building to the school and the community, it was a part of the culture and tradition, and it is a significant loss to everyone,” State Superintendent of Schools Clayton Burch said.

“However, once again, I witnessed numerous examples of community pride and compassion. It was inspiring to see the response of so many agencies, organizations, community members and individuals from around the country who stepped into action and showed concern in a number of ways.”

The State Fire Marshal and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the fire, in which the cause remains undetermined.

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Hackers prey on public schools, adding stress amid pandemic | Health

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — For teachers at a middle school in New Mexico’s largest city, the first inkling of a widespread tech problem came during an early morning staff call.

On the video, there were shout-outs for a new custodian for his hard work, and the typical announcements from administrators and the union rep. But in the chat, there were hints of a looming crisis. Nobody could open attendance records, and everyone was locked out of class rosters and grades.

Albuquerque administrators later confirmed the outage that blocked access to the district’s student database — which also includes emergency contacts and lists of which adults are authorized to pick up which children — was due to a ransomware attack.

“I didn’t realize how important it was until I couldn’t use it,” said Sarah Hager, a Cleveland Middle School art teacher.

Cyberattacks like the one that canceled classes for two days in Albuquerque’s biggest school district have become a growing threat to U.S. schools, with several high-profile incidents reported since last year. And the coronavirus pandemic has compounded their effects: More money has been demanded, and more schools have had to shut down as they scramble to recover data or even manually wipe all laptops.

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“Pretty much any way that you cut it, incidents have both been growing more frequent and more significant,” said Doug Levin, director of the K12 Security Information Exchange, a Virginia-based nonprofit that helps schools defend against cybersecurity risk.

Precise data is hard to come by since most schools are not required to publicly report cyberattacks. But experts say public school systems — which often have limited budgets for cybersecurity expertise — have become an inviting target for ransomware gangs.

The pandemic also has forced schools to turn…

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Neenah schools remain closed following cyber security issue

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NEENAH (NBC 26) — For the second day in a row, schools within the Neenah Joint School District will remain closed Wednesday due to a cyber security situation affecting the district.

Neenah schools closed Tuesday as the investigation into the IT security incident continues. Mary Pfeiffer, Neenah Joint School District superintendent, said a potential unauthorized access to the school data system caused an outage to the district’s internet, phone systems and several software applications.

At this time, Pfeiffer said they don’t believe confidential or personal information has been compromised.
Teachers spent Tuesday creating non-digital lesson plans, a challenge when a lot of that information is on the district’s server.

“In March of 2020, we shifted our staff to all virtual – at least for a short period of time – and now we’re telling them, ‘no more technology,” Pfeiffer said. “It’s been an incredible year. Another incredible year. And now to have to pivot one more time for something that we didn’t have control of, that can be pretty frustrating.”

Michael Patton, director of the Cybersecurity Center of Excellence at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, doesn’t have direct knowledge of this investigation, but said a concern in this type of situation would be that data is taken. He said access to an organization’s server can happen with just one click on a faulty link or video.

“Whatever you open has as much access to your work computer as you do. They get to do things essentially as you,” Patton said. “Your organization may have permissions in their network that allow for you to share things across computers. So the bad actors would leverage that sharing capability, and move throughout your network and infect lots of other things.”

That’s why Patton said it’s best to separate work and personal.

“Maybe we want to check our Facebook or do some online shopping. Just recognize that if you’re doing that from your work machine, that could allow whatever mistakes you make into your work space,” Patton said.

He added people should always be vigilant and skeptical about things they open online.

The Neenah Joint School District is working to restore phone and internet access for…

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Carthage Schools confirm ransomware attack caused outage last year | KSNF/KODE

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Choosing a college is one of the most important decisions a person will make for their education, impacting everything from future earnings and employment to potential student loan debt and social circles.

While every student wants to get the best education they possibly can, there are myriad other considerations to take into account: location, size, diversity, areas of focus, study abroad opportunities—the list goes on. While best college lists are often topped with the same handful of expensive Ivy League schools, the U.S. is home to more than 4,000 degree-granting schools spread out across all 50 states and several territories, with amazing education offerings for students of every age.

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