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Iowa’s largest school district, Des Moines, confirmed earlier this week that a ransomware attack resulted in the forced shutdown of all their networked systems last January. The school did not provide any ransom despite receiving a ransom demand from an unnamed ransomware group.
The academic institution said they would disseminate notification letters to the 6,700 individuals whose data was affected during the alleged ransomware attack. Moreover, they will also explain the details regarding the sensitive information.
The entity’s security team explained that the cybercriminal operation against Des Moines included a ransom demand, but they did not comply. The institution claimed that they followed the advice of their third-party cybersecurity experts since the researchers claimed that it was in the best interest of the school district and community.
Des Moines offered credit monitoring services to the individuals affected by the ransomware attack.
According to Des Moines, potentially affected individuals could access their complimentary offer of credit monitoring services. The notification letters also contain instructions for recipients to follow on how they can place a fraud alert on their credit file. The file is a security freeze feature on their credit file that could provide a free credit report.
The school district temporarily cancelled all classes for several days following the January 9 ransomware attack. The school revealed that its internet and network services suffered massively during the initial intrusion.
Des Moines has more than 5,000 employees and enrols about 31,000 students from preschool to high school in over 60 schools. Additionally, several Iowa school districts, such as the Davenport Community School District and the Cedar Rapids Community School District, have also suffered the same fate as Des Moines earlier this year.
A recent investigation revealed that ransomware groups have struck at least 37 school districts in the US since the start of 2023.
These ransomware operations against educational institutions have severely impacted their daily work because of the mandatory cancelled school days, disrupted tests, restricted access to data and networks, and compromised data owned by employees and students.
