Cyberattacks increasingly hobble pandemic-weary US schools

The pandemic also has forced schools to turn increasingly toward virtual learning, making them more dependent on technology and more vulnerable to cyber-extortion. (File/AP)
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Updated 31 January 2022
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Cyberattacks increasingly hobble pandemic-weary US schools

  • Cyberattacks like the one that canceled classes for two days in Albuquerque’s biggest school district have become a growing threat to US schools

ALBUQUERQUE: For teachers at a middle school in New Mexico’s largest city, the first inkling of a widespread tech problem came during an early morning staff call.
On the video, there were shout-outs for a new custodian for his hard work, and the typical announcements from administrators and the union rep. But in the chat, there were hints of a looming crisis. Nobody could open attendance records, and everyone was locked out of class rosters and grades.
Albuquerque administrators later confirmed the outage that blocked access to the district’s student database — which also includes emergency contacts and lists of which adults are authorized to pick up which children — was due to a ransomware attack.
“I didn’t realize how important it was until I couldn’t use it,” said Sarah Hager, a Cleveland Middle School art teacher.
Cyberattacks like the one that canceled classes for two days in Albuquerque’s biggest school district have become a growing threat to US schools, with several high-profile incidents reported since last year. And the coronavirus pandemic has compounded their effects: More money has been demanded, and more schools have had to shut down as they scramble to recover data or even manually wipe all laptops.
“Pretty much any way that you cut it, incidents have both been growing more frequent and more significant,” said Doug Levin, director of the K12 Security Information Exchange, a Virginia-based nonprofit that helps schools defend against cybersecurity risk.
Precize data is hard to come by since most schools are not required to publicly report cyberattacks. But experts say public school systems — which often have limited budgets for cybersecurity expertise — have become an inviting target for ransomware gangs.
The pandemic also has forced schools to turn increasingly toward virtual learning, making them more dependent on technology and more vulnerable to cyber-extortion. School systems that have had instruction disrupted include those in Baltimore County and Miami-Dade County, along with districts in New Jersey, Wisconsin and elsewhere.
Levin’s group has tracked well over 1,200 cybersecurity incidents since 2016 at public school districts across the country. They included 209 ransomware attacks, when hackers lock data up and charge to unlock it; 53 “denial of service” attacks, where attackers sabotage or slow a network by faking server requests; 156 “Zoombombing” incidents, where an unauthorized person intrudes on a video call; and more than 110 phishing attacks, where a deceptive message tricks a user to let a hacker into their network.
Recent attacks also come as schools grapple with multiple other challenges related to the pandemic. Teachers get sick, and there aren’t substitutes to cover them. Where there are strict virus testing protocols, there aren’t always tests or people to give them.
In New York City, an attack this month on third-party software vendor Illuminate Education didn’t result in canceled classes, but teachers across the city couldn’t access grades. Local media reported the outage added to stress for educators already juggling instruction with enforcing COVID-19 protocols and covering for colleagues who were sick or in quarantine.
Albuquerque Superintendent Scott Elder said getting all students and staff online during the pandemic created additional avenues for hackers to access the district’s system. He cited that as a factor in the Jan. 12 ransomware attack that canceled classes for some 75,000 students.
The cancelations — which Elder called “cyber snow days” — gave technicians a five-day window to reset the databases over a holiday weekend.
Elder said there’s no evidence student information was obtained by hackers. He declined to say whether the district paid a ransom but noted there would be a “public process” if it did.
Hager, the art teacher, said the cyberattack increased stress on campus in ways that parents didn’t see.
Fire drills were canceled because fire alarms didn’t work. Intercoms stopped working.
Nurses couldn’t find which kids were where as positive test results came in, Hager said. “So potentially there were students on campus that probably were sick.” It also appears the hack permanently wiped out a few days worth of attendance records and grades.
Edupoint, the vendor for Albuquerque’s student information database, called Synergy, declined to comment.
Many schools choose to keep attacks under wraps or release minimal information to prevent revealing additional weaknesses in their security systems.
“It’s very difficult for the school districts to learn from each other, because they’re really not supposed to talk to each other about it because you might share vulnerabilities,” Elder said.
Last year, the FBI issued a warning about a group called PYSA, or “Protect Your System, Amigo,” saying it was seeing an increase in attacks by the group on schools, colleges and seminaries. Other ransomware gangs include Conti, which last year demanded $40 million from Broward County Public Schools, one of the nation’s largest.
Most are Russian-speaking groups that are based in Eastern Europe and enjoy safe harbor from tolerant governments. Some will post files on the dark web, including highly sensitive information, if they don’t get paid.
While attacks on larger districts garner more headlines, ransomware gangs tended to target smaller school districts in 2021 than in 2020, according to Brett Callow, a threat analyst at the firm Emsisoft. He said that could indicate bigger districts are increasing their spending on cybersecurity while smaller districts, which have less money, remain more vulnerable.
A few days after Christmas, the 1,285-student district of Truth or Consequences, south of Albuquerque, also had its Synergy student information system shut down by a ransomware attack. Officials there compared it to having their house robbed.
“It’s just that feeling of helplessness, of confusion as to why somebody would do something like this because at the end of the day, it’s taking away from our kids. And to me that’s just a disgusting way to try to, to get money,” Superintendent Channell Segura said.
The school didn’t have to cancel classes because the attack happened on break, but the network remains down, including keyless entry locks on school building doors. Teachers are still carrying around the physical keys they had to track down at the start of the year, Segura said.
In October, President Joe Biden signed the K-12 Cybersecurity Act, which calls for the federal cybersecurity agency to make recommendations about how to help school systems better protect themselves.
New Mexico lawmakers have been slow to expand Internet usage in the state, let alone support schools on cybersecurity. Last week, state representatives introduced a bill that would allocate $45 million to the state education department to build a cybersecurity program by 2027.
Ideas on how to prevent future hacks and recover from existing ones usually require more work from teachers.
In the days following the Albuquerque attack, parents argued on Facebook over why schools couldn’t simply switch to pen and paper for things like attendance and grades.
Hager said she even heard the criticism from her mother, a retired school teacher.
“I said, ‘Mom, you can only take attendance on paper if you have printed out your roster to begin with,’” Hager said.
Teachers could also keep duplicate paper copies of all records — but that would double the clerical work that already bogs them down.
In an era where administrators increasingly require teachers to record everything digitally, Hager says, “these systems should work.”


Ukraine, Russia exchange another group of POWs

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Ukraine, Russia exchange another group of POWs

CHERNIGIV REGION, Ukraine: Ukraine and Russia exchanged a new group of captured soldiers on Thursday, the latest in a series of prisoner swaps agreed at peace talks in Istanbul earlier this month.
Neither side said how many prisoners were released in the latest exchange.
The two countries pledged to swap at least 1,000 soldiers each during their direct meeting in Istanbul on June 2 but no follow-up talks have been scheduled.
The return of prisoners of war and the repatriation of war dead have been among the few areas of cooperation between the warring sides since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.
“Today, warriors of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the State Border Guard Service are returning home,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.
He shared images of Ukrainian soldiers draped in blue-and-yellow national flags, smiling and tearfully embracing.
AFP reporters in Ukraine’s northern Chernigiv region saw relatives awaiting the prisoner release.
Some family members waved posters of missing or captured soldiers in the hope someone would recognize their loved ones and bring them news.
Svitlana Nosal learned her husband Viktor had been freed.
“It’s such a joy, I don’t know how to describe it, how to put it into words,” she said, laughing and crying in the late afternoon sun.
The majority of those released on Thursday were held captive for more than three years, according to Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
Many of them were taken prisoner in Mariupol, a Ukrainian port city that fell to Russian forces in 2022 following a nearly three-month siege, it said.
Russia said its soldiers had been transferred to Belarus and were receiving “psychological and medical care.”
“Another group of Russian servicemen has been returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,” the defense ministry said in a statement.
It posted a video showing freed Russian soldiers draped in their national flag, chanting “Russia, Russia, Russia!“


UN climate chief warns ‘lot more to do’ before COP30

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UN climate chief warns ‘lot more to do’ before COP30

BONN: UN climate chief Simon Stiell urged countries on Thursday to accelerate negotiations ahead of the COP30 in Brazil as there was a lot left to be done.
Speaking after two weeks of technical talks in Bonn, Stiell closed the annual climate diplomacy event saying: “We need to go further, faster, and fairer.”
Bonn is home to the UN Climate Change Secretariat, which coordinates international climate policy and hosts preparatory talks each year ahead of climate summits.
“I’m not going to sugar coat... we have a lot more to do before we meet again in Belem,” he said.
COP30 is due to be held on November 10-21 in the Amazonian city which is the capital of Para state.
At last year’s UN COP29 summit in Azerbaijan, rich nations agreed to increase climate finance to $300 billion a year by 2035, an amount decried as woefully inadequate.
Azerbaijan and Brazil, which is hosting this year’s COP30 conference, have launched an initiative to reduce the shortfall, with the expectation of “significant” contributions from international lenders.
This year’s COP comes as average global temperatures in the past two years have exceeded the 1.5 degrees Celsius benchmark set under the Paris climate accord a decade ago.
“There is so much more work to do to keep 1.5 alive, as science demands. We must find a way to get to the hard decisions sooner,” Stiell said.
Under the Paris Agreement, wealthy developed countries — those most responsible for global warming to date — are obliged to pay climate finance to poorer nations.
Other countries, most notably China, make voluntary contributions.


White House wants deep cut in US funding for war crimes investigations, sources say

Updated 26 June 2025
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White House wants deep cut in US funding for war crimes investigations, sources say

  • The programs also include work in Iraq, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Gambia
  • The expectation that Rubio would argue for many of the programs to be continued is slim

WASHINGTON/THE HAGUE: The White House on Wednesday recommended terminating US funding for nearly two dozen programs that conduct war crimes and accountability work globally, including in Myanmar, Syria and on alleged Russian atrocities in Ukraine, according to two US sources familiar with the matter and internal government documents reviewed by Reuters.

The recommendation from the Office of Management and Budget, which has not been previously reported, is not the final decision to end the programs since it gives the State Department the option to appeal.

But it sets up a potential back-and-forth between the OMB and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his aides, who will reply to OMB with their suggestions on which programs deserve to continue. The programs also include work in Iraq, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Gambia.

The State Department and OMB did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The expectation that Rubio would argue for many of the programs to be continued is slim, according to two US officials. However, the top US diplomat could make a case to keep crucial programs, such as aiding potential war crimes prosecutions in Ukraine, according to one source familiar with the matter.

Several of the programs earmarked for termination operate war crimes accountability projects in Ukraine, three sources familiar with the matter said, including Global Rights Compliance, which is helping to collect evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity across Ukraine, such as sexual violence and torture.

Another is the Legal Action Network, a legal aid group which supports local efforts to bring cases against Russian suspects of war crimes in Ukraine, the sources said.

Requests seeking comment from the groups were not immediately answered.

State Department bureaus that would like to preserve any war crimes and accountability programs should send their justifications by close of business day on July 11, said an internal State Department email seen by Reuters.

CHANGING PRIORITIES
The administration of President Donald Trump has frozen and then cut back billions of dollars of foreign aid since taking office on January 20 to ensure American-taxpayer money funds programs that are aligned with his “America First” policies.

The unprecedented cutbacks have effectively shut down its premier aid arm US Agency for International Development, jeopardized the delivery of life-saving food and medical aid and thrown global humanitarian relief operations into chaos.

The OMB recommendation is yet another sign that the administration is increasingly de-prioritizing advocacy for human rights and rule of law globally, an objective that previous US administrations have pursued.

While US foreign aid freezes had already started hampering an international effort to hold Russia responsible for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, Wednesday’s recommendations raise the risk of US completely abandoning those efforts.

Among the programs that are recommended for termination is a $18 million State Department grant for Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office that is implemented by Georgetown University’s International Criminal Justice Initiative, two sources said.

While the programs do not directly impact Ukraine’s frontline efforts to fend off Russia’s invasion, supporters say they represent the best chance of extensively documenting reported battlefield atrocities in Europe’s biggest conflict since World War Two, now grinding toward a fourth year.

Ukraine has opened more than 140,000 war crime cases since Moscow’s February 2022 invasion, which has killed tens of thousands, ravaged vast swathes of the country and left behind mental and physical scars from occupation. Russia consistently denies war crimes have been committed by its forces in the conflict.


PATH TO APPEAL
Other programs include one that does accountability work on Myanmar army’s atrocities against Rohingya minorities as well as on the persecution of Christians and other minorities by Syria’s ousted former president Bashar Assad, two sources said.

While the OMB recommendations could face State Department push-back, the criteria to appeal are set very strictly.

In an internal State Department email, the administration cautioned that any effort to preserve programs that were recommended to be terminated should be thoroughly argued and directly aligned with Washington’s priorities.

“Bureaus must clearly and succinctly identify direct alignment to administration priorities,” the email, reviewed by Reuters said.


US says giving $30 million to back controversial Gaza relief effort

Updated 26 June 2025
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US says giving $30 million to back controversial Gaza relief effort

  • The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is backed by armed US contractors with the Israeli troops on the perimeter
  • Nearly 550 Palestinians have been killed near the fountantion’s aid centers while seeking scarce supplies

WASHINGTON: The United States said Thursday it has approved its first direct funding for a controversial Israeli-supported relief effort in the Gaza Strip and urged other countries to follow suit.
"We have approved funding for $30 million to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. And we call on other countries to also support the GHF, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and its critical work," State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott told reporters.
Israel starting in March blocked deliveries of food and other crucial supplies into Gaza for more than two months, leading to warnings of famine in the territory widely flattened by Israeli bombing since the massive October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, backed by armed US contractors with the Israeli troops on the perimeter, began operations at the end of May that have been marred by chaotic scenes, deaths and neutrality concerns.
The Gaza health ministry says that since late May, nearly 550 people have been killed near aid centers while seeking scarce supplies.
The GHF has denied that deadly incidents have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points.
Major aid groups and the United Nations have refused to work with the officially private group, saying it violates basic humanitarian principles by coordinating delivery with troops.
Asked about the criticism of the operation, Pigott said that the 46 million meals the group says it has so far distributed are "absolutely incredible" and "should be applauded."
"From day one, we said we are open to creative solutions that securely provide aid to those in Gaza and protects Israel," Pigott said.
The financial support to the GHF is part of President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio's "pursuit of peace in the region," he said.


Members of UK Jewish group to appeal punishments for Gaza war criticisms

Updated 26 June 2025
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Members of UK Jewish group to appeal punishments for Gaza war criticisms

  • Board of Deputies of British Jews suspended 5 members for 2 years and reprimanded 31 over a letter they signed criticizing Israel’s conduct during the conflict
  • In a new statement, the disciplined members renewed their concerns about the ‘destruction being wrought on Gazan civilians’

LONDON: Dozens of representatives of the main organization representing Jews in the UK are appealing against disciplinary action taken against them after they criticized Israel’s war on Gaza.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews this week sanctioned 36 of its representatives after they signed a letter in April in which they said they could “no longer remain silent” over the loss of life in Gaza. The board suspended five of the deputies for two years and reprimanded the remaining 31 for breaching its code of conduct.

The reprimanded members said on Thursday they would appeal against the decision, and continued to voice concerns about the conflict, The Guardian newspaper reported.

In a group statement, they said they “remain deeply concerned about the remaining hostages, the appalling humanitarian crisis and ongoing war in Gaza and the further deteriorating situation in the West Bank.”

They added that they stand in solidarity with the majority of Israelis who want an immediate end to the war in Gaza, and there was “no justification for the continuing misery and destruction being wrought on Gazan civilians.”

When it announced the punishments on Tuesday, the Board of Deputies said the letter was “neither authorized by the board nor did the signatories share it with the organization before sending to the Financial Times.” It had received various complaints about the letter and the media coverage that followed, it added.

The five signatories suspended for two years were removed from any elected positions they held. They were handed more severe punishments than the others because they had “contributed to the misleading press release,” the board said, and made public statements relating to the letter.

The remaining 31 deputies who signed the letter but did not promote it received a “notice of criticism” and were warned they would face suspension if they were involved in any similar incidents.

One of the five suspended members, Harriett Goldenberg, was vice chair of the board’s international division.

She told The Guardian: “So many Jews in the UK agreed with our sadly groundbreaking letter. We were inundated with thanks from those who said we represented them, and that we were their voice. It is tragic that voice is still needed.”

The Board of Deputies is the largest representative body for Jews in the UK, with 300 deputies who are elected by synagogues and communal organizations.