Two weeks after a ransomware virus brought the St. Landry Parish school system’s computers down, the computers are starting back up.
School Board members learned Monday about the recovery from the paralyzing attack on the system’s computers discovered Jan. 15.
At a Buildings, Lands and Sites Committee meeting Monday, Byron Wimberly, computer center supervisor, said the system was assisted by the state Air National Guard, state Department of Education and neighboring school districts in the recovery.
Superintendent Patrick Jenkins said the attack came from the Ryuk ransomware virus. The system avoided paying a ransom to free its system, he said.
The school system was aided in its recovery by backups of its information.
On Wednesday morning, it was announced the school system’s website was running, but with a new address: slpsb.org.
The computer systems used for payroll were brought back up last week, Wimberly said.
The School Board’s e-mail system will have to start from scratch because that was the entry point for the virus. The email will move to Google.
As of Monday, about 6,000 computers had been reimaged. Wimberly said it is like having a new computer needing installations such as application programs and printers.
“We’ve progressed a lot in the last 12 days thanks to the state department and Air National Guard,” he said.
The attack created an opportunity to upgrade security with the help of the state department, he said. As security goes up there is need for more personnel. In the past, teachers were allowed to install software and that will change with the new security, he said.
Wimberly said in the past five years the school system’s computer network has doubled, but staffing has stayed the same.
“There is no way we are going to keep up,” he said.
“We are going to need help to increase our staff to run it as the level we need to run it,” he said.
Carol Mosley, an internet technology expert from the state Department of Education, said eight other school districts have seen their computer systems shutdown by a virus.
“They realized when starting to look for a security person you can’t touch one for less than $160,000,” she said.
The cost to mitigate an attack ranges from $50,000 to $300,000, she said.
“You all are not the last. We know this is going to happen. There has been more incidents since you all,” she said.
Wimberly said the school system has spent $5,000 on hard drives and $2,500 on flash drives recovering from the attack.
Tressa Miller, finance director, said the school system has an insurance policy covering such incidents with a $1,000 deductible and $100,000 limit. Miller said the policy doesn’t cover everything involved in the recovery.
The superintendent said the system can absorb the current costs generated from the attack and hiring two additional computer staff.
The extra staff is needed to service 48 sites and about 17,000 users, Wimberly said.
Claudia Blanchard, maintenance director, said, “This was like for us the perfect storm. It hit us hard.”
Blanchard said the system’s strategic plan calls for hiring more computer department staff.
Mosley said the St. Landry Parish school system is recovering faster than any other attacked district. The system was coming back online within a week and half, she said.
