Montgomery County school district recovering from ransomware attack
(Photo by Soumil Kumar/Unsplash)
SOUDERTON, Pa. - A suburban Philadelphia school district says it is working to recover from a ransomware attack over the Labor Day weekend.
The Souderton Area School District says the attack is still causing some disruptions to the technology systems in the district about 30 miles northwest of Philadelphia, but "financial systems are stored off-site and financial information remains secure."
The district said soon after the Sept. 1 attack that the computer network was shut down and Internet connections disabled "to prevent further damage."
Superintendent Frank Gallagher said Monday that the district is working with federal Homeland Security, FBI, and Secret Service officials, local authorities and "a specialized cybersecurity firm."
Ransomware software is used to encrypt or "lock up" files on computers or servers with the goal of making them inaccessible.