A criminal gang hacked one of the largest school districts in the United States that encrypted district data. The gang demanded $40million in ransom, threatening to post student and employee personal information and erase the files from the school system server. The Broward County Public Schools district has stated they have not paid the extortion payment and the there is no indication of any personal information stolen.
The hack appears to be a pressure tactic on the district after the gang held online negotiations with the district to its site on the dark web, according to screenshots from the criminal gang. The negotiations and work with the cybersecurity experts have been working to restore the affected systems. The hacker’s screenshots show an end in negotiations after the district offered to pay $500,000 after two weeks of negotiations. The hackers continue to demand $40million in cryptocurrency and shut down the district’s computer system in March, but did not disrupt classes. Ransomware attacks on school systems have increased and the Broward school district houses 271,000 students.
Read more: Large Florida School District Hit by Ransomware Attack
