A ransomware attack cost Judson Independent School District, a public school district based in Live Oak, Texas, over half a million dollars. The district issued a statement on August 4th that they decided to pay the $547,045.61 ransom fee to prevent sensitive and identifiable information from being published.
It was first confirmed on June 17th that a ransomware attack affected all the network, computer applications, servers, communication, and email systems for the district. The staff was not able to use their computers and communication system during that time. Between students and staff, the attack impacted around 26,000 people.
Schools are designed to provide a safe learning space for our children, and that is why crimes against schools are considered one of the most alarming problems in society. Schools are a top target for hackers and there are plenty of ways hackers can infiltrate the school network system. During the pandemic, students and teachers who are conducting schools remotely are especially vulnerable.
A lot of students cannot afford to purchase their own devices and the school supplies them. These devices require security measures set up before they should be sent home to students and staff to avoid security breaches. In the case of Judson Independent School District, the students and staff were asked to bring back school devices they use at home to have additional security software installed. This was done after the incident happened.
Preventative measures are very important to mitigate security risks and prevent incidents such as this. By being proactive, industries are focused on preventing instead of fixing the issue as they come.
If you partner with Simplicit Technologies, we guarantee we will do every proactive and preventative measure available to help safeguard your network and minimize security risks.
- Endpoint security solutions. We use the most advanced technological tools in the market. All endpoint devices such as laptops, iPads, and cell phones will come with endpoint security protection.
- Proactive monitoring. We will proactively monitor your network to help diagnose potential issues and prevent security incidents instead of waiting for disasters to happen.
- Periodic network assessment. We will regularly assess the health of your network to help identify security threats ahead of time and perform fixes before it’s too late.
- Regular software updates and patches. We will make sure that you are using latest versions of your applications. Software updates are important because they include important security patches to vulnerabilities as well as help maximize the efficiency of the program.
Contact Us to learn more about our service offerings and how we may be able to help your company secure your network.