FBI Releases Joint Advisory Warning School Districts of Vice Society Ransomware Attacks

School districts are being increasingly targeted by the Vice Society ransomware group, and the FBI, CISA and MS-ISAC are now warning school districts to be on alert. Cybercriminals are targeting the education sector, mainly K-12 institutions, at a much higher rate than other industries as criminals have identified opportunities for more successful attacks due to the abundance of sensitive student, teacher and other personal data available. Coupled with the fact that most school district's lack adequate cybersecurity personnel and technical resources, make the K-12 space very attractive to bad actors.

"The FBI, CISA, and the MS-ISAC have recently observed Vice Society actors disproportionately targeting the education sector with ransomware attacks," today's joint advisory reads. They also "anticipate attacks may increase as the 2022/2023 school year begins and criminal ransomware groups perceive opportunities for successful attacks." https://lnkd.in/eWY6avd9

These cyberattacks have severe consequences ranging from restricted access to networks and data, causing delays to instruction and school days to data theft including student and staff personal information. This week, the second largest school district in the U.S., Los Angeles Unified School District, became a victim of a ransomware attack, causing an outage of critical IT systems within their network. These threats are a real and present danger. Without adequate cybersecurity protection, K-12 organizations are prime targets for future cyberattacks and exploitation.

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