North Lamar ISD is slowly rebuilding their systems after a ransomware cyberattack on the school occurred Aug. 29.
“At this point, the only thing we know is that it’s been down since 8:10 p.m. last night,” Public Information Officer Carla Coleman said the day after adding, “the staff received a Panther Alert this morning [Aug. 30] a little before 7:30 a.m. telling us to not turn on our work computers. We’ve been working ‘old school’ by not using our computers today.”
The damage, unfortunately, was done, to the extent that the NLISD IT Department has been working non-stop since the incident to try and repair and restore.
“As for where we are right now, our IT Department is working building by building to restore service to all computers. They’re working countless hours to have everyone up as soon as possible. As of today[Sept. 3], teachers can enter class grades by logging into Gradebook from their home computers or phones,” Coleman said.
According to norton.com, there are five types of ransomware; Crypto malware, Lockers, Scareware, Doxware, and RaaS.
When understanding what ransomware attacks are all about, norton.com explains its simplicity in saying, “The concept behind ransomware, a popular form of malicious software, is quite simple: Lock and encrypt a victim’s computer data, then demand a ransom to restore access. In many cases, the victim must pay the cybercriminal within a set amount of time or risk losing access forever. And since we’re dealing with criminals here, paying the ransom doesn’t ensure access will be restored.”
It is unknown at this time still, what the full effects of the recent cyber attack had on North Lamar. However, they are confident that they are getting on top of the situation and are working their best to continue the school year with minimal disruption.
