Threat Management, Malware, Ransomware

Wakulla County school board elects to negotiate with ransomware hackers

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Wakulla County Schools board members on Wednesday reportedly voted unanimously to negotiate with hackers who infected the Florida-based district's systems with ransomware.

The district, located in the Tallahassee metropolitan area, first felt the effects of the attack one earlier this month. Emails, bus routing, and library and food service systems have all been impacted, the Wakulla News reported. Altogether, about 40 to 50 computers will likely need to be wiped and reformatted, Superintendent Bobby Pearce told the news source.

The district, which first acknowledged the incident publicly on Sept. 10, said that student data was not stolen. It remains unknown how much the extortionists are currently demanding in payment. According to the Wakulla News, Pearce said the district can still operate without the affected systems, although certain tasks must currently be undertaken manually.

Wakulla County school board elects to negotiate with ransomware hackers

Bradley Barth

As director of multimedia content strategy at CyberRisk Alliance, Bradley Barth develops content for online conferences, webcasts, podcasts video/multimedia projects — often serving as moderator or host. For nearly six years, he wrote and reported for SC Media as deputy editor and, before that, senior reporter. He was previously a program executive with the tech-focused PR firm Voxus. Past journalistic experience includes stints as business editor at Executive Technology, a staff writer at New York Sportscene and a freelance journalist covering travel and entertainment. In his spare time, Bradley also writes screenplays.

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