Cyberattack forces Michigan school district to extend break. Phones, heating affected

Classes at Richmond Community Schools were set to resume Thursday after the winter holidays. But an early-morning announcement on the district’s website said a virus paralyzed several servers and would take time to fix. Don’t expect to be able to call the district to get information: Phones were one of the systems hit.

Affected systems include copiers, classroom technology — and heating. 

It was unclear from the district’s announcement who — or what — unleashed the virus or what the attackers are seeking. But the district said it was a ransomware virus, which usually refers to a scheme that electronically hijacks a system or files until the victims pay a ransom.

The district said student and staff information appears to be safe.

Some hackers try to sell personal information that they can glean from records.

Not just Capital One, Equifax: Data breaches at school, risking your family’s security

By late morning, Richmond Police Chief David Teske said the district had yet to report the attack as a crime, but he wasn’t sure why. In general, he said, it’s almost always best to report suspicious activity to law enforcement.

Without more information, Teske added, it is difficult to say whether it was a student prank; an overseas syndicate that doesn’t realize the difference between tiny Richmond, Michigan, and much larger Richmond, Virginia; or a sophisticated scheme to extort school officials. 

“I don’t know the extent of it,” Teske said.

According to the FBI, these kinds of cyberattacks and threats are increasing every year and do severe damage. In addition to schools and governments, digital assailants are targeting businesses and even people’s home computers and electronic systems. 

Earlier this month, the City of Pensacola, Florida, was attacked by ransomware.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency in July after hackers targeted three school districts. Phones and computer equipment shut down, and electronic files suddenly became inaccessible.

In June, local officials for Riviera Beach, Fla., agreed to have its insurance carrier pay nearly $600,000 in Bitcoin, a hard-to-trace digital currency, to hackers who had disabled the small city’s computer systems.

A month before that, hackers held Baltimore hostage.

Schools in the Richmond district — Richmond High, Richmond Middle, and Will L. Lee Elementary  — will remain closed Thursday and Friday, the district said, as techs attempt to fix the problem. 

Follow Frank Witsil on Twitter: @fwitsil

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