Joshua Peguero and Julia Romero
7 hours ago
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – The Clark County School District continues to respond to the aftermath of what it calls a “cybersecurity incident” that affected thousands of students and staff.
In a response to 8 News Now, CCSD said it sent a message to employees Wednesday afternoon stating that it continues to investigate the incident, which is impacting the “email environment.”
“The district continues to work with schools to facilitate password changes for students and staff.” The email states, “Parents can still email CCSD staff, but staff will be on campus for the time being. I can only reply when.”
Sources say cyber issues have seriously hampered Nevada Learning Academy, CCSD’s virtual-only school, as teachers struggle to access email.
There is concern among staff that NVLA students will lose an entire week of classes and will likely have to make it up in June.
Nevada Learning Academy announced Wednesday that its online learning programs Google Meets, Gmail, and Canvas are no longer available.
“Schools can be soft targets because they don’t have the resources, because the resources are focused on educating the child and not necessarily on the security of the facility,” said Christopher Warner of GuidePoint Security. ” he explained.
Warner added that there are hard and soft targets such as CCSD that are easy for hackers to break into. But it’s important for leaders to act quickly.
“We’ll start changing all the passwords and eventually physically unplug devices until we figure out where the actual problem is,” Warner said. “Isolate the hack. Better start shutting everything down.”
CCSD responded to a cybersecurity breach in 2020 in which hackers published sensitive information online. At the time, it was reported that the school district did not pay the hackers’ ransom demands.
Below is the full text of the email CCSD sent to staff on Wednesday.
CCSD remains committed to investigating cybersecurity incidents that have impacted our email environment. At this time, CCSD staff and students can only access their district email accounts and associated Google Workspace while connected to the district’s internet.
The district will continue to work with schools to facilitate password changes for students and staff. Although access is limited to Google Workspace, students can still access homework and assignments through Canvas. Parents can still email her CCSD staff, but for the time being employees can only respond if they are on campus.
