An anonymous reader quotes a report from Business Insider: Last month, Las Vegas’ largest public school district announced that a hacker compromised some of its files using ransomware and was holding the files hostage while demanding a ransom payment. Now, a hacker has published files containing students’ grades and personal information after school district officials refused to pay the ransom.
Brett Callow, a threat analyst with cybersecurity firm Emsisoft, told Business Insider that he discovered leaked documents published to an online hacking forum that purported to include records from Nevada’s Clark County School District, including students’ names, social security numbers, addresses, and some financial information. Callow’s findings were first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Monday. “Ransomware attacks happen for one reason, and one reason only: they’re profitable,” Callow told Business Insider. “The only way way to stop them is to make them unprofitable, and that means organizations must stop paying ransoms.”