According to a local news report, the Richard Community school in Michigan was hacked over the winter holidays, and the hacker encrypted the school’s sever using ransomware attack. The hackers have demanded $10,000 in bitcoin to restore the server. The School’s IT department revealed that the hack had occurred on December 27.
School refuses to pay ransom to hackers.
The Michigan district school’s IT department immediately shut down the server after discovering the hack and made sure the back serves had not been compromised. The school informed the Michigan police and are trying to track down the hacker. The hack had affected the school district’s telephones, copiers, classroom technology, and even the heating system, but no student’s or staff’s personal information was compromised, according to the school. The server is expected to be back up and running before school resumes next week.
Increase in ransomware attacks around the world.
The ransomware attack on the Michigan district school was not an isolated incident. There have been several ransomware attack reports from around the world. The most common targets for these hackers are schools, hospitals, and local businesses. Last year three schools alone in New York faced the similar attacks. In November 2019, the Mexican state-owned petroleum company Pemex also suffered a ransomware attack where hackers had demanded $5 million in BTC to decrypt the server.
