Hunter
10/12/22
Linn-Mar School District Superintendent Shannon Bisgard has updated families on the ransomware attack that hit their data in July.
According to the statement, the district discovered unusual activity on some of their systems on or about July 31st. They disconnected the systems and conducted an investigation to determine what happened. Federal law enforcement was also notified.
The investigation was completed around September 20th and found that an “unknown actor” gained access to certain systems and conducted activity on those systems between July 26th and August 1st. While functionality was restored and student data was not affected by the attack, employee data may have been compromised.
The district began notifying impacted individuals last week.
KCRG TV reports that the hacking group Vice Society is increasingly targeting school districts nationwide. The group targets schools because of the amount of sensitive staff and student data, and then threatens to publish the information unless a ransom is paid.
Cedar Rapids Schools also faced a ransomware attack in July. The district paid a ransom but have not given any specific information about the attack or how much they paid to get their data back.
