Recently, Mitchell County Schools were under serious ransomware attack. The school was all set to start online classes for all of the students but could not get their computers out of the safety mode. Later, the administration was quite clear that they are under a ransomware attack. The hackers have infiltrated the organisation’s network and have posted a ransomware note on their server. The hackers were also demanding the payment in a form of cryptocurrency.
Ransomware attacks have been on a rise since 2019. In the first ten months of 2019, 500 schools of the US has faced software attacks. Also, Haywood County schools cancelled 1 week of lessons due to a similar incident related to cyberattack. As of now, everything is dependent on computers that’s why the rate of cyberattacks are increasing day by day. Moreover, these computers are very essential in taking care of the students because all of the learnings will be taking place through online procedures.
The state technology leaders also addressed that they need to get better software Security system so that they can save themselves from the ransomware attacks. The schools need to have proper investments so that they can defeat the tactics of the hackers. Hackers can also be individual people or group or an organisation and there is much more that they can do to encrypt the files of the students.
The districts are requested to update their systems and have a good backup for all of their data. The organisation must use cloud services rather than physical servers. Many of the districts have also not agreed to pay the ransom. They do not care if their data is captured by hackers. The choice to pay or not to pay is of the victim. Taking legal steps, Legislators included millions in last spring’s federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act for schools to bolster cybersecurity for the 2020-21 school year
