Ransomware Attack On Wisconsin School District Locks School Servers
By Hannah DeRuyter
October 26, 2021
A Wisconsin school district has been affected by a ransomware attack.
According to the Janesville School District website, the district's IT team noticed "irregularities with the district's network" on Sunday (October 24). After investigating, it was determined by IT that a code in the servers was deemed to be "ransomware."
The IT team notified the State of Wisconsin's Division of Enterprise Technology Cyber Response Team and contacted the FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Officials say no data has been accessed or compromised, but the ransomware did lock the district's servers, "preventing students, staff, and families from being able to login to the various systems/programs used." The inaccessible programs are Infinite Campus, Classlink, and all online textbooks and resources
Thankfully, the ransomware has not affected the school's phones, security cameras, and paging systems.
The district says they have not received a "ransom note" or a list of demands to get their systems back.
The district's Google mail and Google Classroom accounts can still be accessed as long as the device is using cellular data or a wifi source that is not linked to the district.
The District's IT team is continually working on getting the situation under control but has not provided any updates since Monday (October 25).
UPDATE on SDJ Computer Network Outage On Sunday, October 24, 2021, the School District of Janesville’s IT team noticed...
Posted by School District of Janesville, WI on Monday, October 25, 2021