Page 24 - Campus Security & Life Safety, March/April 2020

“These attacks are more than just a nuisance. They also damage the trust of parents in the communities where they occur.”
By Michael Mayes
Cyber Attacks
Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock.com
The Worst Lesson
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ansomware attacks are forcing schools to rethink their cybersecurity playbooks
uring the week of Jan. 6, the Panama-Buena Vista Union School District, located in Bakersfield, CA, became the first school system in 2020 to publicly report they had been hit by a ransomware attack. The district, with 19 elementary schools, four junior
United States. Before classes even started in the fall, 46 school dis- tricts were hit by ransomware between January and August 2019. Once September arrived, another 31 school districts fell victim to file and data-locking malware. In all, 77 U.S. educational organizations representing over 1,133 individual schools – and serving more than 10,000 students – suffered ransomware attacks last year.
Sadly, the lesson school administrators are learning is that educa- tional institutions are desirable targets for ransomware threat actors because they not only host sensitive personal identifiable informa- tion (PII) about students and staff, but when schools fail to function properly, it is very disruptive to the community. The cybercriminals also know that often these entities don’t have sufficient cybersecurity protections in place.
high schools and one alternative school, was hit by an undisclosed strain of ransomware, according to local news reports. Superinten- dent Kevin Silberberg said the district’s phone system and IT network had suffered “a very aggressive ransomware attack,” disrupting phone systems and preventing students and staff from checking grades online or responding to email.
The attack on Panama-Buena Vista Union is just the latest in an academic year that has seen a spike in ransomware attacks across the
24 campuslifesecurity.com | MARCH/APRIL 2020