Hackers demand ransom from Portland area school district May 06 2021
Centennial School District confirmed a recent computer attack was ransomware and said its computers are still offline.
Centennial School District confirmed Wednesday, May 5, that the attack on its computers was ransomware and although its computers are still offline, it expects students will be back to online learning by May 14.
The school district announced Monday, April 26 that it discovered that certain files on its systems were encrypted by an unknown actor.
In a ransomware attack, hackers disable computer systems and then demand payment to make the computers work again. The District can now confirm that the file encryption that it observed was the result of a ransomware attack by sophisticated cyber criminals, the district said in a statement on Wednesday.
Computers compromised, Centennial extends school closure
Students won t have classes all this week after unknown actors installed malware
Centennial School District extended its closure for the remainder of the week after it announced Monday that the district computer systems were breached.
The East County district initially said it would be closed Tuesday, April 27 and Wednesday, April 28, but Tuesday night extended the closure through Friday, April 30. Due to the unauthorized intrusion into the Centennial School District s computer system, schools will remain closed for students in all programs for the remainder of the week, the district said Tuesday night.
Earlier Tuesday evening the school board gathered in an online emergency meeting that lasted only a few minutes. It voted to authorize the funds to allow the district to hire an outside firm to untangle the computer mess.