On Jan. 31, Edmonds School District (ESD) discovered a series of suspicious activities that had been happening on the district servers since Jan. 17. The district took measures to mitigate the issue, shutting down internet access, resetting staff and student passwords and limiting access to online school resources such as Skyward and Canvas. Staff and students were left without information until later in the day after the internet had already been shut down, notified through in-school intercom announcements from Principal Greg Schellenberg and the district distributing information through ParentSquare.
District officials took 13 days to restore internet and access to teacher workstations and student Chromebooks, having students and staff individually reset passwords.
For two weeks, classes had to continue without Chromebook or internet access, requiring teachers to adapt and rework lesson plans quickly.
On Feb. 1, the day after the internet shut down, students got a two-hour delay while teachers were given time to plan for the day. Security software installation on district devices began shortly after, and there was no timeline for when the internet would be restored until it was deemed safe to do so.
On Feb. 10, the district notified families and staff that information such as social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, dates of birth, student identification numbers, financial account information, medical information and student records may have been accessed. Between Jan. 16 and Jan. 31 those who breached the system were able to view and acquire information on the network. Students whose information was leaked were contacted separately by the district to address the issue. Currently there have been no updates as to who had malicious intent on the district server.
Due to the internet shut down, the grading deadline for first semester got pushed back to Feb. 20 when they were originally due on Feb. 6. Students and staff struggled with having no access to online school materials, and seniors worried about late transcripts affecting their college decisions.
In some classes, students fell behind the recommended course timeline due to the lack of resources and teachers not being able access lessons. Now some classes are working harder to catch up, and teachers are working harder to keep up.
Many issues came up throughout the restoration process that pushed it back and raised concern. Some students were not signed out of their accounts up until the password reset, still being able to access their Chromebooks, and most students were able to access Canvas through personal devices. ESD hired a third party to investigate what exactly happened and
more information is to be released. As of two months ago, the district has been without a cybersecurity analyst, leading people to question why the position has not been filled and if that contributed to the network breach.
When the threat had been mitigated and the district deemed it appropriate, MTHS held special block schedules on Feb. 14 and Feb. 15. During these days, students went down to computer labs during their English classes to receive help in resetting their passwords and logging back into their accounts. Students who don’t have an English class were given a time frame for two separate days to come onto campus after school to reset their passwords.
