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NJ School District Hit With Ransomware-For-Bitcoins Scheme

Posted by timothy on from the so-is-there-a-downside? dept.

An anonymous reader sends news that unidentified hackers are demanding 500 bitcoins, currently worth about $128,000, from administrators of a New Jersey school district. Four elementary schools in Swedesboro-Woolwich School District, which enroll more than 1,700 students, are now locked out of certain tasks: "Without working computers, teachers cannot take attendance, access phone numbers or records, and students cannot purchase food in cafeterias. Also, [district superintendent Dr. Terry C. Van Zoeren] explained, parents cannot receive emails with students grades and other information." According to this blog post from security company BatBlue, the district has been forced to postpone the Common Core-mandated PARCC state exams, too. Small comfort: "Fortunately the Superintendent told CBS 3’s Walt Hunter the hackers, using a program called Ransomware, did not access any personal information about students, families or teachers." Perhaps the administrators can take heart: Ransomware makers are, apparently, starting to focus more on product support; payment plans are probably on the way.

5 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. I wouldn't mind the NSA so much if... by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...they went after these criminals.

    If our government actually did something about stuff like this, I think people would believe in their government a bit more, but as it stands, it seems like the NSA and such only want to either spy on us or topple governments that don't tow the line for the US.

    I cannot imagine that finding these criminals is beyond the abilities of the US Government, it just seems like they don't even try.

    1. Re:I wouldn't mind the NSA so much if... by OrangeTide · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And why would the NSA potentially reveal the techniques just to capture some crooks? That classified information is surely worth more than the $128K. If it were up to the NSA, they would just pay the ransom and focus on finding terrorists instead.

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  2. How many computers can you buy for $128k? by OrangeTide · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Maybe 200-500 computers. Is the ransom higher than what it would cost to replace everything? (maybe not enough to replace them with Macs, but Linux and Chromebooks are possible). How many computers does a district with 1700 students really need to get the basics done?

    Just seems like a steep ransom to me. Especially since if I replaced all the computers, the old equipment is worth something and I could probably auction it off.

    The data is gone if you don't pay the ransom (or crack the encryption). Sadly I don't have a way to resolve that problem, other than to start over again and hopefully anything important has backups. (ideally in a form that doesn't spread infection)

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  3. Cannot take attendance? by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Without working computers, teachers cannot take attendance, access phone numbers or records, and students cannot purchase food in cafeterias.

    One can only wonder how difficult it was to teach highschool before computers.

    How did our ancestors manage?

  4. Re:Backups by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What if they pulled their good backup tapes off the shelf, plugged them into one of their infected, online desktops, and the tapes got re-encrypted? Repeat as necessary until there are no more tapes. Then ask another IT admin for help, and learn about write-protect tabs too late for this time.

    [ I wish I could say I hadn't seen this before ]