Pennsylvania School District says ransomware attack disrupted computer systems

Pennsylvania-based Chambersburg Area School District said it suffered a serious ransomware incident in late August that disrupted its internal systems.

The school district announced on its website on 31st August that its internal IT team has been working “diligently to resolve our current technology issue.”

“Student accounts have been temporarily disabled. Our CVA students will not be able to utilise their CASD Chromebooks or district accounts until the accounts are reinstated; therefore, CVA students will not be marked absent on Friday, September 1. The hope is that technology is restored, and we are ready to welcome our students back on Tuesday, September 5,” the notice read.

The should district said in a separate notice that the network disruption it suffered was related to a ransomware attack and that it is “experiencing a network disruption affecting the operability of certain CASD computer systems.”

“The ongoing work of the third-party forensic specialists to investigate the event and its impact on our systems has been running in parallel with efforts to restore full, secure functionality to our environment,” Chambersburg Area School District said.

The district said it is in the process of understanding the nature and scope of the security incident, and is yet to share details on how the threat actors infiltrated its systems and whether any sensitive data had been compromised due to the ransomware attack. The district has confirmed that all CASD schools will remain open and operate as usual.

“We will continue to investigate to determine the full nature and scope of this event working alongside our subject matter specialists as well as law enforcement. We remain dedicated to the safety of our school community and the privacy of the personal and confidential information in our care and will continue to provide further updates as more information is confirmed,” the district added.

Last month, Maryland-based Prince George’s County Public Schools also suffered a significant cyber attack that resulted in a network outage and enabled cyber criminals to access the user accounts of about 4,500 individuals.

The infamous Rhysida ransomware group claimed responsibility for the cyber attack on the school district. According to security researcher Dominic Alvieri, the ransomware group on August 25 gave the school district a deadline of six day to meet its ransom demand of 15 Bitcoin or roughly 390,000 US dollars.