Officials Say School District Near Albany Hit by Cyberattack

An Albany-area school district is investigating a malware attack that forced students in grades 7 through 12 into all-remote learning on Monday, district officials announced.

Officials at the Guilderland Central School District said on the district’s website that specialists investigating “technical interruptions” that happened last Thursday “have determined that the district was the victim of a cyber attack by a threat actor group which used malware to encrypt certain systems throughout the district.”

Officials with the 5,700-student district said they are investigating to determine “whether any sensitive data may have been impacted.” They said school buildings would be closed to students in grades 7 through 12 on Monday.

School districts and other government agencies around the country have been plagued by of an epidemic of ransomware attacks in recent years. The computer system of Florida’s Broward County Public Schools was hacked earlier this month by a criminal gang that threatened to post students’ and employees’ personal information online if it didn’t get $40 million in ransom.

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