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Ransomware Attack
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Officials of the 3,100-student Athens ISD announced (July 31) that the district successfully recovered from a ransomware attack that occurred days earlier without paying the demanded ransom to the cybercriminals.

The AISD school board had voted to pay the cybercriminals $50,000, and the district at the same time negotiated the demanded ransom amount to $25,000 for the
crypto key to unlock the many years worth of encrypted data stored on the district’s servers.

No ransom was ultimately paid. Superintendent Janie Sims credited the round-the-clock work by AISD Technology Director Tony Brooks, engineers from the cybersecurity firm Fortinet, the assistance of Region 10 (Richardson) Education Service Center and the Center for Internet Security.

Due to the attack, the district did have to move the start of its instruction for the new school year by a week — from Aug. 3 to Aug. 10 (the district operates on a four-day calendar).

The experts from Fortinet said the virus — identified as COVID4YOU — originated from overseas and appears to be a new one.