Maybe the hackers didn’t have a good feel for their target demography, or maybe they were just mean, but a West Virginia school district is recovering following a ransomware attack earlier this month, one that seems utterly senseless.
The threat actors responsible for the attack have demanded a $70 million ransom for the restoration of the school’s data and system.
The $70 million bounty demanded is extraordinarily high, especially for a school district in a county with under 18,000 residents and an average household income well below the national median.
The attack on Morgan County Schools coincided with the massive Fourth of July weekend ransomware attack that affected hundreds of businesses and organizations. It is unknown if the cyberattack was linked to the REvil ransomware gang, but the threat actors are presumed to be Russian in origin.
While the school district is still in the process of determining the full extent of the damage, school superintendent Kristen Tuttle has indicated that it is limited to office-based computers.
Morgan county school officials have filed a claim with the West Virginia Board of Risk and Insurance Management for financial assistance in mitigating the damage.
