Tag Archive for: SCHOOLS.

Riverhead schools: Computer system damaged by possible ‘cyber incident’

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The Riverhead school district’s computer system was damaged by a possible “cyber incident” that has crippled its email and internet services, district officials said Friday.

District officials said they discovered the problem Friday and are investigating the source of the breakdown.

“Preliminary reports indicate it might stem from a cyber incident,” the district said in a written statement.

A cyber incident is a breach of a system’s security in order to affect its integrity or availability, or the unauthorized access to a system, according to the National Cyber Security Centre.

The announcement of the cyber incident occurred only days after the Riverhead Board of Education adopted a cyber incident response plan on Tuesday.

Officials said the full extent of the damage remains unclear. The incident has not affected the district’s student management systems, as that data is housed off-campus. School phone lines remain operational, officials said.

Superintendent Augustine Tornatore did not respond to requests for an interview.

The Riverhead school district has about 6,000 students and 400 teachers, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

During Tuesday’s school board meeting, technology director Robert Hines said the district has already placed advanced firewalls between the system and the internet.

The district has also upgraded email security, he said, noting that the great majority of cyberattacks start with an email.

He also noted that the district’s wireless…

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Mobile County Public Schools won’t play at Ladd-Peebles Stadium again after shooting

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Mobile County schools will no longer play football games at Ladd-Peebles Stadium after a shooting there eight days ago, the spokeswoman for the system told AL.com today.

“Mobile County Public Schools is investigating all of the details of last week’s shooting at Ladd-Peebles Stadium and are willing to make whatever changes are necessary to improve our security plans,” Communications Director Rena Philips said in an email. “The first big change we are making is that we will no longer play football at Ladd, nor hold our graduation ceremonies there.”

The shooting happened at a game between Vigor and Williamson high schools on Oct. 15. Shots were fired on the stadium’s west concourse during the third quarter. Police said a group of people left the stadium and re-entered with guns. One opened fire injuring five people, one critically. Two people have been arrested and police are seeking the alleged gunman, 19-year-old Hezekiah Kaniel Belfon.

The school system and the stadium management have differed on who is responsible for the failure to keep the stadium safe.

Ladd-Peebles shooting: Stadium, schools dispute security responsibility

Philips said Mobile schools had already moved games that were scheduled for Thursday and Friday this week, as well as for games next Thursday and Friday and for playoff games.

In 2019, nine people were injured by gunfire at a LeFlore-Williamson game at Ladd-Peebles.

In May, the Mobile County Board of School Commissioners unanimously approved the hiring of an architect to design five new on-campus high school football stadiums at Vigor, Davidson, LeFlore, Williamson and B.C. Rain high schools.

Mary G. Montgomery, Baker, Alma Bryant, Theodore, Blount and Citronelle already have on-campus stadiums.

That will leave only Murphy without its own stadium. The Panthers are landlocked in a residential neighborhood.

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The school’s computer science program is still evolving

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A growing computer science program at Worcester Technical High School is giving more and more students an introduction to information technology.

“Students in our program have this opportunity to come right out of this program and go right (to work) in the community, or what the majority of our students do, they do go to college,” she said.

Teachers Aarti Sangwan and Mary Miller provided the Worcester County Board of Education with an overview of Worcester Tech’s computer science program this week. Miller said the program, which is in just its fourth year, was providing skills and experience that would help students after high school.

According to Sangwan, the program was started four years ago to provide Worcester Tech students the Project Lead The Way computer science pathway. Sangwan, who was initially the only computer science teacher, was joined by Miller three years ago. The program has now grown to include 90 students who are offered four classes — computer science essentials, foundations of computer science, cyber security and AP computer science principles.

“If you’ve ever heard ‘don’t just play on your phones, program them,’ that’s what they get to do,” she said.

Miller said the introductory class, computer science essentials, gave students a taste of what they were getting into.

From there, students go on to program robots and learn text-based programming. The final class in the program is cyber security.

“They work on the ethics of conduct, both in their personal life and company’s life,” Miller said. “They get to talk about—debate—what you do in cyber security, what should you do, and what you protect against.”

Sangwan said the majority of the students in the program, 74%, came from Stephen Decatur High School while 15% came from Pocomoke High School and 11% came from Snow Hill High School. While most students are boys, Sangwan said there were several programs, such as Girls Go Cyber, that were meant to encourage more girls to explore the field. Lucy Murphy, a Snow Hill student taking part in the program, said it had started off with coding and then moved on to robots and working with Javascript.

“In this program we focus a lot on project…

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How California schools are fighting ransomware attacks

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As ransomware attacks target them, some California schools are scrambling to respond while others have done little to protect themselves.

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — Schools aren’t exactly known for their expansive budgets. Many struggle to pay for basic operations such as functioning air conditioning and employee salaries.  

But this past year, cybercriminals have attacked a growing number of schools across California and the country. A handful of California schools, colleges and universities have experienced ransomware attacks, often with harsh consequences: Sierra College had some systems shut down during finals week, Newhall School District’s 10 elementary schools went a week without online school during the pandemic, and UC San Francisco paid a $1.14 million ransom.

While hospitals and oil pipelines might seem lucrative, schools hardly scream “Jackpot!”

The average ransom paid by mid-sized organizations across the world in 2021 is about $170,000, according to a survey by London-based software company Sophos. Still, cybercriminals try to make their ransoms affordable. UC Berkeley cybersecurity researcher Nick Merrill said he thinks would-be thieves will charge as much as schools are willing to pay.

“At the end of the day, (the criminals) don’t want this to drag out for a long time, that increases their liability,” he said. “I’m guessing they’ll pick the highest number that they think you’ll pay quickly.”

Ransomware attacks are increasing against schools not only in California but across the country, according to several experts. How schools respond and what security measures they have in place are evolving rapidly. 

What do cyber criminals do first?

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