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NJ School District Hit With Ransomware-For-Bitcoins Scheme
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.
...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.
The US government needs to immediately make it illegal to pay these types of ransoms. You have no idea what group is collecting the money or what they're going to do with it so just simply make it illegal. That will stop most of these ransoms from happening.
One can only wonder how difficult it was to teach highschool before computers.
How did our ancestors manage?
a PITA but oh well that's what careless IT admin buys you
Yeah. Careless IT people.
Nothing to do with unreasonable faculty demanding those peon IT people give them wireless and remote access to everything using their iphone/pad, android and infected eight different ways home peecee without the slightest friction or impediment. Probably has nothing to do with the IT budget that gets grudgingly funded only after the quarterly pension COLA bump and the administrative bonuses are paid out, ensuring the whole system relies on a wheezing 12 year old sonicwall appliance. That couldn't have anything to do with it. It's got to be those fools in IT.
On the other hand, the IT staff probably is the direct result of a hiring policy that has actual knowledge and talent waaay down the list of qualifications after race, sex, sexuality, disability and every other imagined grievance they can dream up. That and they're almost certainly terrified of touching the slightest thing lest they interfere with the $240k/year politically connected hypercrat in district HQ that spends nine hours a day surfing porn.
School districts in places like NJ are pretty dysfunctional institutions. Pinning this kind of failure on the IT peons alone is badly naive.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!