Los Angeles school official says hackers targeted district in ransomware attack

Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Los Angeles schools superintendent Alberto Carvalho said on Tuesday that hackers who targeted on of the nation's largest school districts with ransomware have made a ransom demand to release the captured data.

Carvalho said that the hackers have made a demand for a ransom payment in exchange for releasing data captured by the malicious software.

He declined to say how much hackers are asking for, although officials assured that social security numbers and other sensitive information of employees have not been compromised. Carvalho also said there has been "no response to the demand," according to the Los Angeles Times.

The cyberattack was discovered in progress over the Labor Day weekend on Sept. 3. Experts say it's often hard to figure out what exactly the hackers have or if they will follow through on posting their findings.

The attack has been associated with hackers with the Vice Society, a criminal syndicate that commonly targets education institutions and websites.

School officials said while the cyberattack temporarily caused problems with the district's website and email system, its employee health care and payroll were not affected.

In January, a ransomware extortion attack in Albuquerque caused schools to close for two days. Ransomware cost U.S. victims an estimated $1.4 billion in 2020.

The school district said that the Department of Education, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency are providing help for the school district on the attack.