stevenpiziks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stevenpiziks) wrote2020-11-01 01:33 pm
stevenpiziks) wrote2020-11-01 01:33 pm
Entry tags:
The Attack
It's been in the news. Wherever Schools were attacked by a computer virus. Ransomware. The district refused to pay, and the criminals brought down the network for the entire district. No Internet, no phones, no network drives, no email, no grading, no attendance records.
So while we're under siege for the coronavirus, we got hit by a computer virus.
It was (is) bad, bad, bad, and the only thing that kept us functioning on an educational level was the fact that we're all delivering instruction through Google Classroom, which was unaffected. However . . .
Nearly all us teachers keep our materials on our network drive. Everyone has their own section of the network, and I've been keeping my lesson plans and instructional materials on it for years. In the old days, everyone kept a master copy of worksheets and projects and tests in a filing cabinet. I still have my filing cabinet, in fact. It's monstrously huge. And empty. Years and years ago, I scanned all my paper materials into PDFs and when I create new materials, I do so on a computer. And everything goes into the network drive.
When we're within range of the district's WiFi, we can access our network drives through any computer, using the file explorer. Very easy. At home, we can access the network drive through the Internet by downloading files to our own computers. Very clunky.
When we shifted to virtual school back in March, I was forced to download my files, one by one, to my home computer through the Internet. It was slow and laborious and tedious. I finally had enough of frustration and solved the problem by taking an external hard drive to school (eerie empty hallways) and downloading the contents of my network drive to it. Much easier!
Then the computer virus struck and the network drive went down completely.
Like everyone else, I was scrambling to deal with this new problem. Without our school email, we shifted over to using our GMail accounts, which took some configuring. We couldn't upload grades from Google Classroom to the school's online grading program, and Google Classroom's grade book isn't accessible by the parents, so the parents had no way to know how their kids were doing. I had no way to contact parents, since email addresses and phone numbers are stored on the network. Grades dropped sharply as kids realized no one was overseeing their progress except me, and I was just an image on a screen.
At least I had access to my materials. Most all the other teachers didn't. They had to start all lessons from scratch and find or create new materials in an already stressful and difficult environment.
The network was down for about three weeks. We teachers got very little in the way of information about it. We got a couple-three carefully-worded emails from the administration that basically just said we were hit by a computer virus and they were working with a tech company to restore what they could, please sit tight.
The district didn't say it was a ransomware attack.
The district didn't say that our personal data, including social security numbers, was compromised.
The district didn't say that the personal data of a pile of teachers and students was posted on the dark web.
As of this writing, the last communique we got about this from the district was a sheepish email that basically said, "Well, it looks like some teachers' information got out. We're sorry about that. We'll let you know in a week or so who it was."
A blog that tracks ransomware attacks learned of the attack and found the teacher information on the dark web. It showed some of the files, with names and other personal information redacted. If this site knows about it, the district must also know. But still we haven't been told anything.
(Small side note: when I registered the boys as students at Wherever Schools, they asked for their social security numbers. I refused categorically and asked why the wanted these numbers. The registration person said it was routine to collect them, and I really needed to hand them over. I refused again. "We keep them safe," the registration person said. I refused a third time. When the registration person grew a little belligerent and made noises about my refusal delaying or stopping their registration, I said, "State law says you must accept my sons into the school system, no matter what. I don't have to give you a damn thing except their address and birth dates. Drop it." She dropped it, and the boys were registered. Without their soc numbers going into the school computer. Looks like a damned good decision on my part, dunnit? Never, ever give that number to anyone who isn't giving you money or extending you credit.)
I'm already registered with two credit- and data-protection services. I get an alert every time someone tries to do anything in my name. I don't keep a list of my personal passwords on the district software anywhere. I think I'll be all right. I hope I'll be all right.
The network is back up now. I had to bring my school laptop to the high school and hard-line connect it to the school's network to update the virus protection. The grades and email were restored. I didn't think to check if my network drive was restored, but I haven't heard howling from other teachers, so I'm assuming it was.
I'm hoping.
So while we're under siege for the coronavirus, we got hit by a computer virus.
It was (is) bad, bad, bad, and the only thing that kept us functioning on an educational level was the fact that we're all delivering instruction through Google Classroom, which was unaffected. However . . .
Nearly all us teachers keep our materials on our network drive. Everyone has their own section of the network, and I've been keeping my lesson plans and instructional materials on it for years. In the old days, everyone kept a master copy of worksheets and projects and tests in a filing cabinet. I still have my filing cabinet, in fact. It's monstrously huge. And empty. Years and years ago, I scanned all my paper materials into PDFs and when I create new materials, I do so on a computer. And everything goes into the network drive.
When we're within range of the district's WiFi, we can access our network drives through any computer, using the file explorer. Very easy. At home, we can access the network drive through the Internet by downloading files to our own computers. Very clunky.
When we shifted to virtual school back in March, I was forced to download my files, one by one, to my home computer through the Internet. It was slow and laborious and tedious. I finally had enough of frustration and solved the problem by taking an external hard drive to school (eerie empty hallways) and downloading the contents of my network drive to it. Much easier!
Then the computer virus struck and the network drive went down completely.
Like everyone else, I was scrambling to deal with this new problem. Without our school email, we shifted over to using our GMail accounts, which took some configuring. We couldn't upload grades from Google Classroom to the school's online grading program, and Google Classroom's grade book isn't accessible by the parents, so the parents had no way to know how their kids were doing. I had no way to contact parents, since email addresses and phone numbers are stored on the network. Grades dropped sharply as kids realized no one was overseeing their progress except me, and I was just an image on a screen.
At least I had access to my materials. Most all the other teachers didn't. They had to start all lessons from scratch and find or create new materials in an already stressful and difficult environment.
The network was down for about three weeks. We teachers got very little in the way of information about it. We got a couple-three carefully-worded emails from the administration that basically just said we were hit by a computer virus and they were working with a tech company to restore what they could, please sit tight.
The district didn't say it was a ransomware attack.
The district didn't say that our personal data, including social security numbers, was compromised.
The district didn't say that the personal data of a pile of teachers and students was posted on the dark web.
As of this writing, the last communique we got about this from the district was a sheepish email that basically said, "Well, it looks like some teachers' information got out. We're sorry about that. We'll let you know in a week or so who it was."
A blog that tracks ransomware attacks learned of the attack and found the teacher information on the dark web. It showed some of the files, with names and other personal information redacted. If this site knows about it, the district must also know. But still we haven't been told anything.
(Small side note: when I registered the boys as students at Wherever Schools, they asked for their social security numbers. I refused categorically and asked why the wanted these numbers. The registration person said it was routine to collect them, and I really needed to hand them over. I refused again. "We keep them safe," the registration person said. I refused a third time. When the registration person grew a little belligerent and made noises about my refusal delaying or stopping their registration, I said, "State law says you must accept my sons into the school system, no matter what. I don't have to give you a damn thing except their address and birth dates. Drop it." She dropped it, and the boys were registered. Without their soc numbers going into the school computer. Looks like a damned good decision on my part, dunnit? Never, ever give that number to anyone who isn't giving you money or extending you credit.)
I'm already registered with two credit- and data-protection services. I get an alert every time someone tries to do anything in my name. I don't keep a list of my personal passwords on the district software anywhere. I think I'll be all right. I hope I'll be all right.
The network is back up now. I had to bring my school laptop to the high school and hard-line connect it to the school's network to update the virus protection. The grades and email were restored. I didn't think to check if my network drive was restored, but I haven't heard howling from other teachers, so I'm assuming it was.
I'm hoping.