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October 1, 2019 02:59 pm

Over 500 US Schools Were Hit By Ransomware in 2019

In the first nine months of the year, ransomware infections have hit over 500 US schools, according to a report published last week by cyber-security firm Armor. From a report: In total, the company said it found and tracked ransomware infections at 54 educational organizations like school districts and colleges, accounting for disruptions at over 500 schools. To make matters worse, the attacks seem to have picked up in the last two weeks, with 15 school districts (accounting for over 100 K-12 schools) getting hit at the worst time possible -- in the first weeks of the new school year. Of these 15 ransomware incidents, Armos said that five were caused by the Ryuk ransomware, one of today's most active ransomware strains/gangs. Overall, Connecticut saw ransomware infections hit seven school districts throughout 2019, making them the state whose educational institutions were compromised the most by ransomware attacks this year. But while Connecticut saw the most ransomware infections targeting school districts, it was Louisiana who handled the attacks the best when, in July, Governor John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency in response to a wave of ransomware infections that hit three school districts. The governer's actions rallied multiple state and private incident response teams together and helped impacted school districts recover before the new school year, without paying the hackers' ransom demand.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


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