Following Ransomware attacks on three public school districts in Louisiana; Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency. The Oachita (City of Monroe School District), Morehouse and Sabine Parish School Systems are all affected.
In doing so, officials believed that it was critical to respond to the ransomware attacks in a coordinated manner. The declaration will help, as it calls for assistance from just about every public body in the state. National agencies and offices are already pitching in.
In a statement, the Sabine Parish School System said:
“The Sabine Parish School System was hit with an electronic virus early Sunday morning. This virus has disabled some of our technology systems and our central office phone system. The district staff reported this electronic viral attack to local law enforcement, state officials and the FBI. All available resources are being utilized to get the district systems back online. An investigation involving local, state and federal law enforcement is ongoing at this time. The school phone systems were not affected by this attack. The central office phone system is being repaired and service will be restored as soon as possible. According to the Louisiana Department of Education, several other school districts were attacked by the same virus this week.”
There are no details yet on what ransomware variant was inflicted in the attack; or the severity of the attack. However the response to the attack is being handled by the Cyber Security Commission, which was established in 2017.
If you’re in a similar situation, what can you do? In situations like this, there is a possibility that your security software may fail to detect the attack. If that’s the case you’ll need to rely on continuous data protection and desktop security software. These tools are inaccessible by any hackers or attacks on your machines. Being able to safely restore your data in the event of a Ransomware attack can make the difference between a large ransom and getting away scot free.
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