Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Los Angeles school superintendent Alberto Carvalho said Monday it appears that hackers who cracked the district's database did not get the most sensitive information such as social security numbers and psychiatric records.
Ransomware hackers released information captured from the Los Angeles Unified School District, one of the largest in the country, on the dark web over the weekend when the district refused to pay a ransom.
"We have not seen widespread evidence of critical, personal information or current employee information [being released]," Carvalho said at a news conference. "Obviously, we are very sensitive to the stress this has been causing to our employees, our workforce, as well as contractors and parents."
Carvalho said while there may be individual incidents where a small number of W-9 tax forms were released as part of bidding for contracts, it appears hackers didn't get the most private information.
The hackers did appear to get student attendance and academic data from 2013-16. Carvalho said that based on the hacker's past habits if they had more sensitive information, they would have released it by now.
Carvalho said the district will be contacting those who have had sensitive information compromised by the cyberattack.
The district said last month that the U.S. Education Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Department were involved in the investigation of the ransomware attack in September. The school district, though, was able to start classes on time.
