Connecticut (US state)

Population

Density

As of 2021

Smoking tobacco

Percentage of the population in US states who smoke tobacco in 2020

Education

2020: US state schools fail to start school year due to ransomware virus

In early September 2020, schools in Hartford, Connecticut, were unable to open their doors to students due to a ransomware virus attack that shut down critical IT systems. The Hartford mayor called the incident "the largest and most significant virus attack in the city in five years." The ransomware program did not affect students' learning platforms, but damaged a number of other systems relevant to studies, including the compilation of school bus routes.

In 2019, the city spent $500,000 to "improve cybersecurity," creating backups of the system, among other things. Management said most of the data had been recovered by the evening of September 7, but a new start date for schools has yet to be announced. About 18,000 students were affected by the ransomware virus attack.

US state schools did not start school year due to ransomware virus that disabled critical IT systems

Hartford schools were not the only victims of cyberattacks, according to NBC. In early September, many American schools faced "computer glitches." Problems were reported by online learning platform Blackboard, and a web hosting service serving about 209,000 students crashed in Houston that prevented users from logging in. Newcastle University in the UK was also the victim of a cyberattack using a ransomware virus. Hackers stole students' personal data and threatened to put it in the public domain if the university leadership did not transfer money to them.

The new school year, during which millions of students in the United States should resume regular and virtual learning, has just begun, but the number of cyber attacks in the education sector has already jumped, said Mike Riemer, technical director of cybersecurity firm Pulse Secure. - Recent attacks on Hartford schools and Newcastle University prove the education sector remains a lucrative target for cybercriminals and management must consider more progressive cyber security measures.[1]

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