[ad_1]
LODI (CBS13) – Telephone lines were cut for a third day at the Lodi Unified School District on Tuesday after a cybersecurity incident destroyed their network, computers and phone lines on Sunday.
The district has not confirmed whether or not this was a ransomware attack or whether student data was compromised, but this is not the first cybersecurity incident in the district.
READ MORE: Search continues for man from Stockton accused of killing his girlfriend and stabbing his mother
Last year, Lodi Unified reported that someone had gained unauthorized access to student data, including names, addresses and even medical information.
CBS13 recently contacted the district as part of an investigation into how schools track and report these types of cybersecurity violations, but the district did not respond to our request for information.
While there is no obligation for schools to track or report most cybersecurity incidents, California Data Security Breach Notification Act requires agencies to report certain personal information breaches.
Records reveal that 25 schools reported violations to the Attorney General between 2012 and 2019. But that number has skyrocketed, almost doubling to 49, in the past 15 months.
And these are just reported incidents.
Notably, the Lodi violation in 2020 is not listed in the Attorney General’s database. The district previously said there was no evidence the information was misused.
When we asked why the violation was not reported to the GA, the district responded, “We have followed the advice of legal counsel to deal with and respond to this issue.
The law only applies to violations affecting more than 500 people when information has been “acquired” by an unauthorized person.
READ MORE: California encourages prescribed burns to fight wildfires
However, cybersecurity experts told CBS13 that school offenses often go unreported because the school mistakenly thinks students have not been compromised.
But student information from hundreds of these types of school offenses has been found for sale on the dark web – where children’s information sells for a high price because they are easy targets for identity thieves. .
UPDATE: 06/10/21
On Wednesday, the Lodi Unified provided an update on the latest cyber incident:
“On Sunday October 3, the District experienced a disruption in the computer network. Due to this network interruption, we cannot access some files and systems.
We immediately began working with a third-party specialist to investigate the extent of this incident and safely restore our access to the affected systems.
Our website is not available and the phone systems at five schools are not working. Incoming and outgoing emails are not available. The telephone lines for our district office are now operational.
Our technology department works diligently to protect all student data and personal records. We do not have an estimated time frame for putting our network back into service.
NO MORE NEWS: Flyers with swastikas and advertising for the White Supremacist Church left at Carmichael Homes
Our community is encouraged to download our mobile app to receive updates and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. We can be found @lodiusd on all social media platforms. We will continue to send information through our Blackboard mass notification system. “
[ad_2]
