Ransomware Attack Closes Baltimore County Public Schools

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — All schools and offices are closed Wednesday because of network issues, Baltimore County Public Schools announced around 8 a.m. Wednesday.

The FBI is working with the Baltimore County Police Department and Maryland Emergency Management Agency on the investigation. There is no time line for when the systems will be back up and running, according to Superintendent Darryl Williams.

"Please do not log into BCPS devices/systems," Baltimore County Public Schools said in a statement before 5 p.m.

The school system was made aware of the situation Tuesday night, according to Executive Director of Information Technology Jim Corns.

The attackers did not access any data but instead encrypted it, Corns said, noting as of Wednesday afternoon that authorities were still working to determine the extent of the impact.

Officials would not say who they thought was responsible, citing the early stages of the investigation.

Baltimore County Public Schools notified families about the issue at 6:30 a.m., according to school district spokesperson Mychael Dickerson.

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School system officials notified county government Wednesday morning, Corns said.

County officials said they were monitoring the situation and did not believe its system had been compromised.

"We are aware that BCPS has been the victim of a ransomware attack. Our Office of Information Technology is working closely with them to offer technical assistance and guidance," according to the statement from Baltimore County government.

"We do not have any reason to believe that Baltimore County Government systems have been compromised, but the County’s Information Technology team is closely inspecting our network and all devices out of an abundance of caution, and has put in place additional security measures," county officials said. "We will continue to work with BCPS to help address this issue so that remote learning can resume as soon as possible."

The Baltimore County Public Schools technology team is working on the situation and said there was systemic interruption to its network information systems as a result of the attack.

The Baltimore County Public Schools website was down as a result of the issue.

"Warning!! The BCPS system is infected with network issues," the Teachers Association of Baltimore County said in a statement, advising educators: "Leave your computer off and do not turn it on until we hear back from BCPS." The association also said teachers should not check their Baltimore County Public Schools email from their phones.

Around 10 a.m., Baltimore City Public Schools told students who were not working on devices issued by the school system to log out immediately. Those in the city using their personal devices were being excused for the day.