Des Moines Public Schools, the largest school district in Iowa with 33,000 students, had its classes on Jan. 10 canceled following a cyberattack on its IT network, reports The Associated Press.
While the school district has not detailed the type of attack or whether the incident has compromised sensitive data, it has taken down its internet and network services amid an ongoing evaluation of the intrusion.
"Because many technology tools that support both classroom learning, as well as the management and operation of the school district, are not available at this time, the prudent decision is to close the district for the day," said the district in a news release.
Des Moines schools have also canceled sports and other activities, according to school district spokesperson Phil Roeder, who added that a decision on whether classes will be held on Wednesday will be made by Tuesday afternoon.
Attackers behind the Singtel breach utilized a web shell, noted sources close to the matter. Such a webshell was previously reported by Lumen researchers to have been planted on an anonymous Singaporean entity to secure credentials that were later used to infiltrate four U.S.-based organizations and an India-based entity.
Investigation into the incident is already underway, according to Van Wagner, which has already offered a year's worth of complimentary theft protection services to impacted persons while emphasizing the implementation of additional security measures across its IT infrastructure to avoid future intrusions.
Attackers who infiltrated its systems from June 29 to July 18 were able to compromise some system files, which included individuals' names, financial details, and Social Security numbers, with the stolen data differing from person to person.