Seattle Highline Public Schools cancels classes due to cyberattack
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Highline Public Schools, located south of Seattle, announced that all schools will be closed on Monday due to a breach of its technology systems. The school district is serving 17,290 students across 35 sites in communities south of Seattle.
The disruption affects key operational systems, including online tools used for dispatching buses, recording attendance, and other essential functions. Given the reliance on these systems to ensure safe and orderly school operations, particularly at the start of the academic year, the district determined it could not operate classes without access.
The closure includes all school activities, athletics, meetings, and even a vaccine clinic, while the district’s central office will remain open. The incident has also delayed the first day of kindergarten, which was initially set to begin on Monday.
District officials announced on Sunday that they had detected "unauthorized activity" on their technology systems and have taken immediate measures to isolate critical systems.
Families and staff were informed of the closure via text messages, robocalls, and emails on Sunday afternoon. A decision regarding the continuation of the closure into Tuesday will be made by 2 p.m. on Monday.
The district is collaborating with third-party cybersecurity experts, as well as state and federal partners, to restore and test its systems safely. No detailed information about the motive or goals of the hackers behind this breach. As of Sunday afternoon, the district’s specialists had not detected any theft of staff or families' personal information, according to district spokesperson Tove Tupper.
Update - as of 4th of October 2024, Highline, with assistance from third-party cybersecurity specialists and state and federal partners confirmed that the incident was a ransomware attack. The district has involved the FBI in the investigation but refused to provide details due to the ongoing nature of law enforcement inquiries.
As of 2nd of April 2025, district officials report that personal information was compromised during the attack. The exposed data includes:
- Names and addresses
- Birthdays and Social Security numbers
- Driver's license numbers
- Financial account information
- Passport numbers
- Employment information
- Digital signatures
- Medical and health insurance information
- Student identification numbers
- Student records, demographic information, and grade information
The number of affected individuals have not been disclosed, though the district serves approximately 18,000 students. The district has also not revealed the ransom amount demanded by the hackers.
Highline Public Schools is offering affected individuals one year of free identity protection services through IDX identity theft protection.
