TPS hack one of several nationwide

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) -The Toledo Public School district was back online for virtual classes on Wednesday following a cyber intrusion earlier in the week. That attack introduced a virus to the district’s system which forced administrators to shut it down just after noon to avoid further damage.

TPS Communications Director Patty Mazur says the district is now working with a forensic computer company to track down the origin of the virus and find out who is responsible. The FBI has also been called in because TPS will pursue prosecution of the offender.

This is one of many such attacks on major urban school districts around the country. According to cyber-security expert Chris Riling, these hackers are looking for notoriety. They are using what he says is a “distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.” This is where hackers may target a specific provider of services like “Blackboard” or “Google Classroom” and bombard the system in an effort to overwhelm it and take it offline.

There was also a secondary computer security breach where a hacker got ahold of a classroom passcode and broke in to post racially and sexually offensive comments. That, too, was shut down and school administrators are investigating the source.

In the meantime, all students and teachers are advised to keep a close hold of all their passcodes and protect them like you would your social security numbers. That way people can’t get ahold of them and steal your identity.

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