Coweta County School System hit by ransomware attack

Coweta County School System in Georgia has fallen victim to a ransomware attack 

The school system confirmed it was hit by a ransomware attack on Friday, which forced officials to cancel SAT testing at three high schools over the weekend. According to a spokesperson, no student or employee information was compromised in the breach, and no school financial information was accessed.

While regular classes will not be interrupted, school officials have warned that work processes may be slowed for staff and teachers. Despite the disruption, scheduled testing will proceed as planned this week.

In a statement on Sunday, Georgia’s Coweta County School System said that the incident will impact its 23,000 students across 29 K-12 schools" “Some school system network processes will be hampered in the coming days, and school system employees have been advised not to access desktop devices, while the matter is being investigated,” the school district said. 

School system official Dean Jackson called the attack “serious” and said it has been reported to the Georgia Emergency Management Authority and Homeland Security. The district’s IT system was alerted to unusual activity Friday and took systems offline. 

“Access to the school system’s internal network will be restricted during this period to allow for ongoing investigation and monitoring,” Jackson explained. 

Students will still have access to WiFi and Chromebooks. The school system is working with cybersecurity experts, federal and state authorities on an investigation into whether student and employee information was accessed.