Ransomware Hits Another School in California
The latest ransomware attack victim is the Newhall school district in California. According to city officials, the attack closed down remote learning for 6,000 elementary students. The malware struck overnight Sunday into Monday morning. Newhall's servers have been shut down and the kids are back to using pencil and paper to work on home assignments. There has been no extortion demand yet.
The news comes as researchers issue warnings on increased ransomware attacks in education, tied to remote learning and increased use of technology for instruction. The U.K.'s National Cyber Security Centre flagged an increase of attacks against grammar schools, colleges and universities in England, warning that un-patched software and hardware used by remote learners, and successful phishing emails are all common attack vectors.
In the U.S., ransomware has become part of the curriculum for some institutions. Over the summer, four different universities were victims of the NetWalker ransomware gang. Hackers are targeting colleges and universities because of the value of the information they hold. Local schools attacked include Hartford, Conn., Fairfax County Va. and Clark County, Nev. The ransomware forced public schools to postpone the first day of school. In August, an attack on the Rialto Unified School District in San Bernardino County forced online class suspension. And earlier in July in the Athens school district in Texas, schools were delayed by a week and the district paid a $50,000 ransom in exchange for a decryption key.
According to Check Point, the U.S. has the highest increase in education related attacks globally, including ransomware and DDoS. Between July and August, the average number of weekly attacks per education organization in the U.S. increased by 30 percent, from 468 to 608. To put things into perspective, attacks against all other sectors increased by only 6.5 percent.