Four public schools in Nantucket closed due to a ransomware attack

A ransomware attack forced the closure of four public schools on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, serving 1,700 students.

The school district’s superintendent Elizabeth Hallett said in an email to parents that the hacking incident forced an early dismissal at noon on Tuesday because it rendered all student and staff devices and safety and security systems inoperable. The school’s athletic events were still set to go on as planned.

Hallett wrote that no school-issued devices should be used at home until further notice, as it could compromise home networks. Nantucket Public Schools includes an elementary, middle, and high school.

The news came as Tucson Unified School District (TUSD), the largest pre-K-12 school district in southern Arizona, also recently suffered a ransomware attack. There was no evidence that the two incidents were related.

In addition, US school districts have already been the target of five ransomware attacks in January, according to Brett Callow, a threat analyst for the cybersecurity company Emsisoft. Ransomware affected 45 US school districts, with 1,981 schools in 2022 alone.