Bea Beltran Tech 01.10.2023 22:Jan PM EST

Iowa's Des Moines Public Schools Cancel Classes Due to Cyber Attack

Des Moines Public Schools, the largest school district in Iowa, has canceled classes on Monday and Tuesday due to a cyber attack on their systems. All networked systems were taken offline to investigate the unusual activity detected within their network.

Extent of the Des Moines Public Schools Cyberattack

It was announced on Monday that all classes on January 10th were canceled with the exception of athletics and activities that were scheduled for the day. The institution's network services went offline for further assessment and investigation of the attack.

The class cancellation then continued until Wednesday, which was announced on January 10th after the system breach has been treated as a ransomware attack. Officials are still uncertain whether classes may resume for the rest of the week.

The attack affected the school's classes due to its classroom learning being supported by technology tools, which also cover the management and operations of the school district, according to Bleeping Computer.

Although the Des Moines Public School's access to the internet, WiFi, and other networked systems at the school buildings and offices were either offline or intermittent, they can still be contacted via Telephone service.

Both staff and outside consultants have been looking into the cybersecurity attack to determine how much it affected the institution's systems. Interim Superintendent Matt Smith stated that they were making sure that they can safely get the potentially compromised networks back up.

As district officials shut down the district's extensive server and internet network, many systems were affected aside from classes. This includes bus routing, food and nutrition systems, and access to important student documents, according to the school's register.

Des Moines' spokesperson Phil Roeder mentioned that they believed that the attack was isolated within the school's servers, and that the devices that belonged to students remained unaffected. The school is working with Homeland Security and the FBI to resolve the issue.

The Growing Number of Cyberattacks on Schools

DM Public School was not the first to experience a cyberattack in Iowa. Previous attacks have affected schools like the Glenwood Community School District, Cedar Rapids Community School District, Linn-Mar Community School District, and Davenport Community School District.

Reports say the Mills County's Glenwood Community School District paid a ransom of $10,000 after hackers encrypted the institution's student data making them inaccessible to administrators. The data held schedules, as well as contact and demographic information.

Overall, ransomware hackers have targeted 89 organizations in the education sector of the US, accounting for 44 universities and colleges and 45 school districts. Around 58 of the attacks involved hackers stealing data from the networks.

One attack was claimed by the Vice Society Ransomware Group, which targeted the second-largest school district in the United States. The breach in Los Angeles Unified School District's systems led to their data being leaked after a month.

Even before the Vice Society Gang claimed the attack, the FBI, CISA, and MS-ISAC have already released a joint warning about the mentioned ransomware group targeting school districts in the US.