North Babylon SD Investigating 'Ransomware-Type' Computer Virus

NORTH BABYLON, NY — The North Babylon School District had part of their computer network infected by a "ransomware-type virus," Superintendent Glen Eschbach wrote in a message to the community. Eschbach stated that the virus encrypted some of files on their internal network and affected the district email. Due to the virus, district officials were not send or receive emails on Monday, but were hoping to have access to email by Tuesday.

"Upon learning of the attack, the District notified the proper authorities and will continue to work with these agencies throughout their investigation," Eschbach wrote in the letter. "We also deployed a full team of IT professionals, who have been working to bring our computer network back online. We are extremely pleased that our onsite network engineer caught the issue early enough to prevent a systematic spread or further damage to District files."

District officials are still investigating the attack but stated that they will not pay any ransom to retrieve or decrypt any files.

"We are grateful that there is no evidence that any student, staff, or financial data files were involved in this attack on our educational system," Eschbach wrote. "However, out of an abundance of caution, the District temporarily shut down our entire District network and ALL connections to and from District-issued Chromebooks. The shut down of our network means that any student using one of our District devices will not have access to any instructional materials."

Eschbach states that he expects district-issued devices and will share further information as to exactly when they expect to be back online as it becomes available.

"Students not using District-issued devices will continue to have access to instruction as normal with the exception of programs that are accessed via Classlink," the letter reads. "We apologize for the disruption and assure you that no student's grades or academic standing will be negatively impacted by this unfortunate incident. I would like to thank our community for their understanding of this matter."