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Oxford, Miss. (TLV)—Sunday, Feb 7, The Oxford School District was attacked by an “unknown hacker” using “crypto-ransomware.” OSD has shut down all servers and is currently working to resume regular operation.
Crypto-ransomware is a type of malware that restricts you from using some or all of your computer until a price is paid in a crypto-currency, an untraceable digitital form of currency such as bitcoin.
“Today instruction has been disrupted because of the malware situation,” said OSD Superintendent Brian Harvey. “We hope to have the Internet up and running Tuesday morning so that instruction can continue for our students and teachers.”
So far, no critical data has been compromised.
All programs and files of the school district are inaccessible as well as on campus internet activity being halted by this attack.
The press release in its entirety has been included below:
Oxford, Mississippi—The Oxford School District (OSD) is a victim of a criminal crypto-ransomware attack by an unknown hacker, which began early Sunday morning. As a precautionary measure, the Oxford School District shut down all district servers and is presently working to resolve the situation. At this time, no personal information or other critical data was compromised.
“Today instruction has been disrupted because of the malware situation,” said OSD Superintendent Brian Harvey. “We hope to have the Internet up and running Tuesday morning so that instruction can continue for our students and teachers.”
The cyberattack has not only interfered with classroom instruction, but has locked out students, teachers, and administrators from gaining access to computer programs, files and other network-related services. School district computer programs which are unaccessible at this time are PowerSchool, Schoology, district and school websites, and Internet connectivity on school campuses. 
I am surprised the students and teachers who connected to the system from their own pcs have’t been apprised of the risks their PCs and home data are exposed to. This sort of malware is spread from computer to computer with no need to click a malicious link.
They connected to a trusted system and their PCs likely allowed it to make changes, add files, etc. But– that trusted system had been violated.
Tom