Ransomware behind Highline Public Schools disruption

Washington State K-12 school district Highline Public Schools disclosed that a ransomware attack against its network had prompted the closure of all its schools last month as it confirmed ongoing efforts to restore impacted systems, BleepingComputer reports.

Investigation into the attack, which no ransomware operation has claimed yet, is still underway, according to Highline, which noted that student and staff device re-imaging and network password resets will commence next week. “Additionally, we will re-image all district-provided Windows devices. We expect to restore access to several of our network tools during the week of October 14. We are prioritizing access to tools that are authenticated through ClassLink,” said the school district. Such a disclosure comes amid continuous cyberattacks against the education sector, with the Toronto District School Board reporting a ransomware intrusion targeted at its software testing environment and popular digital classroom management platform Mobile Guardian disclosing a separate data breach.