Arrest made in Miami-Dade Public Schools cyber-attack that ruined first week of K-12 classes
The main Office for Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS,) headquartered in Miami, Florida, planned on beginning their fall 2020 semester and officially open their 2020-2021 school year this past Monday, August 31. Students were to begin classes utilizing the My School Online (MSO) distance learning platform, as schools still remain closed to students during this unprecedented pandemic health crisis.
Some of the MSO teachers were geared up to provide live, online instruction and interact with students on a daily basis; while some teachers opted to provide online instruction from their school classrooms to further enhance the experience. Students would be connecting to their daily lessons from home or from wherever their Internet connection was located.
But as is the case with 2020 and the “new normal,” the first three days of distance learning in Miami-Dade County Public Schools proved more than challenging for students, parents, teachers and administrators. The first day of classes for the majority of students went straight down the tubes as students could not connect to their schools’ educational tech portal. There was one legitimate software glitch; but the big news is that the school district was “the target of various cyber-attacks designed to cause disruptions in Internet service, impeding teaching and learning.”
Beginning today, some grades reverted to using Zoom video conferencing while some grades’ classes were suspended altogether.
But early this morning, the school district got some good news.
Today, the Miami-Dade Schools Police (M-DSPD) made an arrest related to the cyber-attacks that maliciously disrupted teaching and learning since school began on Monday. Detectives were able to trace an IP address responsible for the attacks to a 16-year-old student, a junior at South Miami Senior High School. A thorough investigation is being conducted by M-DSPD, working jointly with the FBI, the Secret Service and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).
The student admitted to orchestrating eight Distributed Denial-of-Service (DOS) cyber-attacks, designed to overwhelm District networks, including web-based systems needed for My School Online. The student used an online application to carry out his attacks.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) has been the target of more than a dozen of these types of attacks since the 2020-2021 school year began. Detectives are continuing their investigation to determine whether additional individuals are responsible for the attacks.
“We believe, based upon our investigation, that other attackers are out there. We will not rest until every one of them is caught and brought to justice. Cyber attacks are serious crimes, which have far-reaching negative impacts. Our message to anyone thinking of attempting a criminal act like this is to think twice. We will find you,” said M-DSPD Chief Edwin Lopez.
The student causing all the mayhem has been charged with Computer Use in an Attempt to Defraud – a 3rd degree felony, and Interference with an Educational Institution – a 2nd degree misdemeanor.
(Source: Miami-Dade County Public Schools)
~ Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Connect with Richard on Facebook and Twitter
