ROCHESTER — The school district here was hit by a ransomware attack last month that resulted in some employee and student information being hacked, officials confirmed Thursday.
Rochester Public Schools was hit by a cybersecurity attack in early April, forcing the district to shut down its network. District officials said in a statement they refused to pay a ransom and alerted the FBI.
Superintendent Kent Pekel declined to comment further, citing the ongoing investigation into the ransomware attack. Pekel told media earlier this week the district has reset passwords on thousands of computers and tablets and is slowly bringing parts of its network back online.
Some Rochester Public Schools employee data was stolen in the attack, including personal information of some student employees. District officials say no other student data was taken, and so far it doesn't appear any data that was hacked has been used for identity theft or financial fraud.
The ransomware attack has affected numerous district operations as teachers had to go low-tech in classrooms over the past month. In addition, the district determined it couldn't administer Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment tests to students this year.
The district looked into holding the standardized tests later than the early May period the state designated this year, but Minnesota Department of Education officials weren't able to extend the testing window due to state technology and regulation. In addition, the district couldn't secure enough MCA paper copies in time.
