Parts of TUSD carry on without Internet following cyber attack

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — “Schools will continue,” says Margaret Chaney, president of the Tucson Education Association.

In some TUSD schools, cyber attack Attack the district network.

Guidepoint Security CISO Gary Brickhouse said:

And with thousands of people accessing a school district’s network regularly, cybercriminals often think: school is an easy target.

“Last year, over 45 school districts were hit with ransomware,” Brickhouse continues.

by Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security AgencyK-12 educational institutions have become a popular target thanks to a combination of network scale and the increasing use of networks in schools by virtual learning.

“Unfortunately, this is the era of hacking. We are not the first school district to be hacked,” Cheney continued.

Fortunately, TUSD did not affect the student’s medical record. Not all districts hit are so lucky.

“We also saw a recent school hack in the LA School District where these students lost their health information,” said Brickhouse.

So how can you avoid this situation in a network with a very large number of users?

“It’s important to educate employees on how to identify and avoid phishing emails and the like,” says Bickhouse.

“If you have any doubts, don’t click. I don’t think you should be overly frightened of things, just like you were hacked at Target or your bank.”

“Protecting the security and privacy of personal information is of paramount importance to the Tucson Unified School District,” the school district said in a statement.