Evanston Township High School to reopen Wednesday after ransomware attack
Ransomware attack shuts down Evanston Township High School
A ransomware attack disrupted Evanston Township High School's technology systems and internet services.
EVANSTON, Ill. - Evanston Township High School will remain closed through Tuesday after a ransomware attack disrupted district systems, internet service and computer infrastructure, school officials said.
The school announced Monday evening that it plans to reopen Wednesday, with summer school classes, sports camps and other on-campus activities resuming as scheduled.
What we know:
School officials said the cybersecurity incident was discovered Sunday and prompted the district to shut down operations while it assesses the impact and restores systems.
The attack compromised critical safety systems — knocking out the internet, PA system, and phone lines.
"As a result of critical operational systems being impacted, we made the determination that it was not safe to have students in the building," said Reine Hanna, director of communications for ETHS District 202.
The closure led to the cancellation of all summer school classes, sports camps and other campus activities through Tuesday.
District officials said they are working with the FBI and outside cybersecurity experts as they investigate the attack and recover affected systems.
Hanna confirmed the hackers displayed an on-screen message notifying district officials of the breach, but as of Monday afternoon, she said they had not demanded money or bitcoin.
What they're saying:
As the FBI investigates, FOX Chicago's Kasey Chronis spoke with cybersecurity expert Tony Sabaj of Check Point Software Technologies.
He says schools have become prime targets for ransomware attacks because they often hold large amounts of data with fewer cybersecurity resources than other industries.
"They're target-rich but cyber-poor," Sabaj said. "A lot of people don't think of identity theft as high school student as being valuable, but to an identity thief that's maybe trying to create fraudulent loans or get fraudulent financial information, not a lot of people are concerned about monitoring the credit of say a 16- to 18-year-old almost adult that can actually get credit can get loans. It has a small financial history."
Most of the time, he says attacks like this one originate overseas.
"Most of these cyberattacks come from countries where we don't have the traditional extradition rights or the ability to go in and arrest or stop these folks," Sabaj said. "Even if it's not a state-sponsored, you know, government-to-government attack, could just be somebody being opportunistic, but those people tend to come from countries that we don't have those legal agreements with."
What we don't know:
Authorities have not identified who was responsible for the ransomware attack, and it's still unclear whether any data was accessed or compromised.
"At this time, it's not clear what information may have been accessed or acquired. That is part of the investigation, and we are fully committed to being transparent with our school community once we have a better understanding of what was impacted and the scope of the attack," Hanna said.
What's next:
To learn more information, visit the school's website here.
The Source: The information in this story came from Evanston Township High School.