Cyberattack targets school district in upstate NY

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GUILDERLAND, N.Y. - A school district near Albany, the capital of New York, is investigating a malware attack that forced students in grades 7 through 12 into all-remote learning on Monday, district officials announced.

Specialists investigating "technical interruptions" that happened last Thursday in the Guilderland Central School District "have determined that the district was the victim of a cyber attack by a threat actor group which used malware to encrypt certain systems throughout the district," officials said on the district's website.

"The district is working diligently with specialists to investigate the incident, confirm its impact on our systems, and to restore full functionality as quickly as possible," the district said. "Law enforcement and all other appropriate authorities were immediately notified."

Officials with the 5,700-student district said school buildings would be closed to students in grades 7 through 12 on Monday.

"The district is also actively investigating to determine whether any sensitive data may have been impacted," school officials said. "At this time, they have not confirmed that any sensitive data was compromised, but plan to keep the community updated as more information becomes available."

In recent years, cyber-attackers have targeted a number of school districts, hospital systems, and local governments in the United States. In many cases, the hackers hold encrypted computer systems for ransom.