Hackers attack George County School District

LUCEDALE, Miss. (WLOX) - Even schools in rural George County are not safe from cybersecurity attacks.

The George County School District identified suspicious activity that disrupted their computer systems on June 8. They imminently contacted outside cybersecurity experts to conduct an independent investigation to fix any problems and determine if any information was acquired from the breach.

“We will continue to work with these experts to ensure our IT environment is safe and secure before returning to normal operations,” said George County School District Superintendent of Education Wade Whitney, Jr. “We apologize for any continued disruption in the use of our network. We have teams of people working around the clock to resolve this issue.”

Whitney said that he did not believe the “Grief” ransomware group was responsible for the attack. “Grief” previously took responsibility for a recent attack against the Vicksburg-Warren School District in a post obtained by Mississippi Today.

Whitney also said the district did not pay a ransom to the group responsible for the hack.

There is no evidence that any student or staff information has been impacted at this time. Whitney said the investigation into this activity is ongoing.

“We appreciate your patience,” Whitney said. “We will provide updates when additional information becomes available.”