CYBERWAR: “Hackers looking to exploit sensitive information for profit are increasingly targeting the nation’s schools, where they are finding a relatively weak system to protect a valuable asset: student data.
Cyberthieves have struck more than three dozen school systems from Georgia to California so far this year, stealing paychecks and data or taking over networks to extort money. The thefts have prompted many school officials to hire cybersecurity consultants to fight back against a trend that experts say is growing fast.
The attackers have gained access to servers containing student names, addresses, social security numbers, birth dates, academic performance, phone numbers and medical and discipline records—in some cases releasing data in an escalating series of demands and actions.
A few districts, betting that surrender would be cheaper and easier than defeating a hack, have gone against FBI advice and paid off the hackers…
Cyber experts say as schools rush to ramp up the use of technology in the classroom, they haven’t done enough to protect an easily monetized trove of data on students.”
-Tawnell D. Hobbs, “Hackers Target Nation’s Schools,” The Wall Street Journal online, Oct. 23, 2017 05:30am