California community college suffers ransomware attack; shuts down email for ten days

The Ohlone Community College District (OCCD), a multi-campus single community college district located in the San Francisco Bay in California, suffered a “sophisticated” ransomware attack that shut down phones and email systems for ten days in January.

The incident potentially exposed sensitive personal information, including the Social Security numbers, dates of birth, US alien registration numbers, medical information, driver’s license numbers, and bank account details of some staff, faculty, and current and former students.

Other data, potentially compromised during the attack, includes health insurance information, student ID number, race/ethnicity, class list, driver’s license numbers, routing numbers, course schedule, disciplinary file, grades, disability aid information, transcripts, and IEP/504 plan information.

Threat actors struck the network in Fremont on January 20, 2022, disrupting access to specific files and services of an online student information system for 17 days.

In a statement released February 4, the president of OCCD, Eric Bishop, said an unknown party had accessed certain portions of our network. The college reported the attack to law enforcement and worked with third-party specialists to investigate how the incident occurred. It has set up a dedicated assistance line to help individuals affected by the ransomware attack and subsequent data breaches.

Although there is no evidence of misuse of information, the college has proactively notified individuals with information stored on the network. OCCD said it offers the victims access to free credit monitoring and identity protection services. OCCD, which serves around 16,000 students, has taken action to improve its cybersecurity and implement additional security measures. The college is also reviewing its network security policies and procedures. The institution, however, did not reveal whether a ransom was paid.