JACKSON, MI (WKZO-AM/FM) – Students in Jackson and Hillsdale Counties will not attend classes for a second consecutive day following a computer system outage caused by a ransomware attack this past weekend.
Jackson County Intermediate School District Superintendent Kevin Oxley issued a statement Monday evening stating that although security teams are working to get the systems back online in a safe and secure matter, the process may still take some time. Because of the ongoing work, officials from 23 public school districts and charter schools in the two counties decided to cancel classes for Tuesday.
Students and staff are also being asked to refrain from using school-issued computers and devices for the time being.
The complete statement issued by Oxley:
Good evening,
I’m writing to provide an important update on school operating status for tomorrow, Tuesday, November 15, 2022. As you are aware, our technology consortium is currently experiencing a systems outage affecting critical operating systems in the district. This outage occurred because we were victims of a ransomware attack detected over the weekend. Immediately upon discovering suspicious activity, we proactively took systems offline in order to contain the incident. We have engaged external cybersecurity advisors to investigate and assist in the safe restoration of our systems. We have also notified law enforcement.
We have teams on site who will be working throughout the night to bring our systems back online in a safe and secure manner. While we continue to make progress, this process may continue to take some time. Therefore, the superintendents from Jackson and Hillsdale counties have determined schools will remain closed for tomorrow, Tuesday, November 15, 2022.
At this time, we continue to ask everyone to refrain from using any school-issued devices. Our technical teams will be providing us updates throughout the day on the progress of restoration. As additional information becomes available, we will provide an update on the status of tomorrow’s afternoon activities. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused and appreciate your patience and understanding as our technology team works diligently to remediate this issue. Unfortunately, more and more school districts have become victims of ransomware attacks over the past few years, and we are no exception.
Providing a high quality learning environment for our students is our number one priority and we are doing everything in our power to get them back in their classrooms. Our investigation remains ongoing. We will provide more information as it becomes available.
Sincerely,
Kevin Oxley
Superintendent, Jackson County Intermediate School District
AFFECTED SCHOOLS IN JACKSON COUNTY
- Columbia School District
- Concord Community Schools
- da Vinci Schools
- East Jackson Community Schools
- Francis Street Primary School
- Grass Lake Community Schools
- Hanover-Horton School District
- Jackson Area Career Center
- Jackson County Intermediate School District
- Jackson Public Schools
- Michigan Center School District
- Napoleon Community Schools
- Northwest Community Schools
- Springport Public Schools
- Vandercook Lake Public Schools
- Western School District
AFFECTED SCHOOLS IN HILLSDALE COUNTY
- Camden-Frontier Schools
- Hillsdale Community Schools
- Hillsdale Preparatory School
- Jonesville Community Schools
- Litchfield Community Schools
- North Adams-Jerome Public Schools
- Pittsford Area Schools
- Reading Community Schools
- Waldron Area School District
- Will Carleton Academy
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