The Los Angeles Unified School District was the victim of a data breach over the weekend, but schools were scheduled to open on Tuesday.
(Bloomberg) — The Los Angeles Unified School District was the victim of a data breach over the weekend, but schools were scheduled to open on Tuesday.
The nation’s second-largest school district identified unusual activity in its information technology systems over the weekend and later confirmed that it was targeted by a ransomware attack, according to a statement. Some business operations may be delayed, but school officials said they didn’t expect major issues with providing instruction, transportation or food. Officials didn’t disclose if there was an extortion demand from the hackers responsible.
The hack was described as “likely criminal in nature.” It wasn’t yet clear who was behind the incident, which took the district’s website offline, eliminated access to email and reportedly affected systems that teachers use to post lessons and take attendance, according to the Los Angeles Times. Classes started on Aug. 15.
It was the 50th cyberattack against US-based education-sector entities so far this year, including 26 colleges and universities and 24 districts, said Brett Callow, threat analyst at the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft, in a tweet. He added that there is a predictable increase in ransomware attacks involving schools in the third quarter of the year.
Federal officials are helping the district respond to the incident, according to the statement.
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