Ransomware attacks against schools are surging, researchers find

guest · Jan 31, 2023

Nantucket Public Schools closed following ransomware attack
By Irene Rotondo - January 31, 2023

Nantucket Public Schools were closed early on Tuesday, Jan. 31 as an online ransomware attack overtook the entire island’s public school internet system, according to an email sent Tuesday morning from the Nantucket schools’ superintendent obtained by MassLive.

Nantucket Superintendent Elizabeth Hallett wrote in the message,

“Earlier this morning, we discovered that Nantucket Public Schools computer systems were compromised by Ransomware. All student and staff devices have been shut down, and our safety and security systems, including phones and security cameras, are also disabled.
“For that reason, students and staff will be dismissed today at 12:00 pm with the exception of athletic events, which are still scheduled as usual. No school issued devices should be used at home until further notice, as it could compromise home networks. We will provide any and all updates as they become available.”
Hallett did not provide other information in regards to the situation.
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guest · Feb 2, 2023

Ransomware gang attempts to extort UK school by posting files about at-risk children
By Alexander Martin @AlexMartin - February 2, 2023

The Vice Society ransomware group claimed on Thursday to have stolen sensitive data from Guildford County School, the latest British educational establishment it has victimized.
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The Record has observed hundreds of files, apparently stolen from the school on January 19, posted to the criminal group’s leak site. Several have filenames suggesting they contain safeguarding reports — sensitive internal documents teachers write to record information about at-risk students.

As of publication the school has not responded to The Record’s enquiries regarding whether it was proactively informing staff and students that their information was being published online.
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Last week the specialist music academy confirmed that a cyberattack was responsible for knocking out its phone lines and impacting the school’s IT systems.
The extent of the breach was not described in the initial statement, which said the school was “being supported by a professional team and has taken immediate remedial action to limit data loss.”
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guest · Feb 2, 2023

Sensitive data stolen in Okanagan College cyber attack now posted to dark web, ransomware group claims
By Michelle Gomez - February 1, 2023

Hackers believed to be responsible for a cyber attack on Okanagan College earlier this month claim they have now posted sensitive data onto the dark web.
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On their website, the hacker group Vice Society says they have extracted and published over 850 gigabytes of sensitive data, including passwords, photos of passports, social security numbers, and credit card numbers.

"Data that appears to belong to Okanagan College and its stakeholders has been posted on a dark website belonging to a criminal organization," said Okanagan College in a Tuesday statement.
Brett Callow, a Canadian cybersecurity threat analyst with the company Emsisoft, says Vice Society is known to target academic institutions with ransomware attacks. Ransomware is a type of malicious software that threatens to publish the victim's personal data or block access to it until a ransom is paid.
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Okanagan College said they have alerted authorities to the incident and did not entertain conversations about paying a ransom.

"Regardless of the amount, even if we had paid a ransom, there still would have been no way to be absolutely certain that it would have resulted in the destruction or even non-publication of any stolen or compromised data," the college said in a statement.
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guest · Feb 7, 2023

Ransomware hackers take demands directly to college students: ‘For you, it’s a sad day’
By Kevin Collier - December 20, 2022

The email went out to students at Knox College, a small liberal arts school in Illinois, on the evening of Dec. 12.
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A hacker group known as Hive had broken into the college’s computer system and gained access to student data, a common ransomware tactic. But this group had a new wrinkle for Knox students.

“We have compromised your collage networks,” the email said, written in the kind of broken English common among international ransomware hackers. “The data we have includes your personal information, medical records, psychological assessments, and many other sensitive data.”
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The incident at Knox College marks the first known case in which hackers used their access to contact students directly in order to intimidate them. It highlights how the ongoing scourge of ransomware — which cost the U.S. an estimated $886 million last year — is also one in which hackers are escalating their efforts to get institutions to pay up. The emails to students were first reported by the Galesburg Register-Mail.

“It’s getting harder and harder to convince victims to pay, so this is the kind of extremes they need to go to,” said Allan Liska, an analyst at the cybersecurity company Recorded Future.
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Students aren’t panicking, but they are worried that their data could be leaked at any moment.

Alex Marcoullier, a Knox College senior who received the email, said she’d like her personal data taken down but that she doesn’t trust the hackers to keep their word.
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guest · Feb 7, 2023

mood said: ↑

Ransomware hackers take demands directly to college students: ‘For you, it’s a sad day’
By Kevin Collier - December 20, 2022
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Alumnus files federal lawsuit against Knox College over data breach
By Cameron Line - January 25, 2023

A Knox College alumnus has filed a class action lawsuit against Knox after a ransomware attack compromised sensitive data of students, alumni, and employees.
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The complaint was filed Friday, Jan. 20th by a Jane Doe who resides in California although the case was filed in the U.S. District Court for Central Illinois.

The suit says that on Nov. 24, 2022, Knox lost “control over its current and former students’ highly sensitive personal information.”
The information leaked included names, addresses, social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and passport numbers.
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Doe is seeking injunctive relief, damages, and restitution along with costs and reasonable attorneys fees and asks for a jury trial.

Knox College released a statement to the media Dec. 4 from VP of Communications and ITS Lisa Van Riper that admitted to a “system disruption” caused by ransomware.
Van Riper said that if it was determined that “any personal information was accessed during the incident” they would provide notification and assistance to all impacted individuals, “consistent with relevant state and federal law.”
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guest · Feb 9, 2023

Mount Saint Mary College confirms December ransomware attack
By Jonathan Greig @jgreigj - February 9, 2023

Mount Saint Mary College – a liberal arts college in New York – confirmed it experienced a ransomware attack in December after a cybercrime group publicly shared details about the incident this week.
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The Vice Society ransomware gang, a group known for dozens of attacks on K-12 schools as well as colleges and universities, claimed to have attacked the school in a post on its leak site that was first highlighted by cybersecurity expert Dominic Alvieri on Wednesday.

When asked for comment, a Mount Saint Mary College representative directed The Record to a recently released statement where the school says it detected and stopped a cyberattack on December 20, 2022.
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The attackers were able to access and disable some of the school’s systems, and officials disconnected part of the network that were affected before hiring cybersecurity specialists to help with the response.

“Upon learning of the incident, the college quickly notified law enforcement, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The college received a ransom demand from the group responsible and did not comply, following recommendations from the FBI,” the school said.
School officials said they have stayed in contact with cybersecurity experts and law enforcement agencies anticipating that the group behind the attack would publish the stolen data.

They were informed of Vice Society’s dark web post on Thursday and are now working with experts to “assess the findings and take the appropriate next steps.”
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The school said it has already sent letters to those affected that their personal information may have been accessed – including anyone who has been a student or worked at the college in the last ten years.
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guest · Feb 10, 2023

Irish University Confirms Ransomware Behind Campus Closures
Munster Technological University's Cork Campuses Remain Shut Following the Hack
By Akshaya Asokan @asokan_akshaya - February 9, 2023

Ireland's Munster Technological University confirmed that an ongoing system outage that forced it to shutter its Cork campuses was the result of a ransomware attack.
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The university first disclosed it had experienced a system outage on Tuesday, saying the incident affected the IT and telephone systems at its four locations in Cork, leading the school to cancel classes.

In an update Wednesday, the school confirmed the incident had resulted in the malicious encryption of some systems. Classes in Cork are still canceled, but the university's campus in Kerry in unaffected.

"Following this incident, we have been in close and ongoing contact with the National Cyber Security Center, the Data Protection Commission, Garda Síochána and other relevant stakeholders, including government departments," MTU said.
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Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Paul Gallagher, the vice president of finance and administration at MTU, said the university has declined to pay the ransom and is preparing for a phased reopening next week.
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