Hackers prey on public schools, adding stress amid pandemic

By CEDAR ATTANASIO
Associated Press / Report for America

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Cybersecurity experts say that ransomware attacks on K-12 schools have increased during the pandemic. Cyberattacks have crippled schools in recent weeks as teachers become more reliant on computers to take attendance and deliver lessons. Before the pandemic, cyber hacks of schools rarely led to canceled classes. Snow days are less frequent because children can learn from home when there’s bad weather. But this month at least two schools in New Mexico and Wisconsin took “cyber snow days,” canceling classes to repair the damage from attacks by hackers. Disruptions of software used to record attendance and grades make teaching even more stressful on top of COVID-19 protocols and staffing shortages.