AURORA, Colo. — Aurora Public Schools will operate on a 2-hour delayed start for the rest of the week amid a districtwide internet and phone outage.
According to Corey Christiansen, public information officer for the district, APS noticed "potential suspicious activity within our network" early Monday morning. Christiansen did not provide details about the activity.
Christiansen said APS shut down its network "to protect our technology infrastructure." The district is working with third-party experts to investigate the cause of the suspicious activity and restore services.
Education
Aurora Public Schools working to fix districtwide internet and phone outage
Due to the outage, schools will operate on a 2-hour delayed start for Thursday, Jan. 16, and Friday, Jan. 17.
Due to the delayed start, AM preschool is canceled for Thursday, but PM preschool will go on as scheduled, according to Christiansen. There are no preschool classes on Fridays.
Schools will be closed on Monday, Jan. 20 for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
It is unclear when services will be restored. Christiansen the district is "making progress in addressing the issue" but "additional time is needed to fully restore our internet and phone service." APS hopes to restore services by the time school returns on Tuesday, Jan. 21.
At this time, there are measures in place to ensure "effective communication and maintain safety" across the district. APS security dispatchers and officers continue to monitor schools, according to Christiansen.
Despite the outage, the district's public address (Intercom) systems are fully operational. Christiansen said school staff are still able to receive and respond to family calls and emails.
In addition, Christiansen said school staff has printed family emergency contact information in case of an incident.
- Hear from a cybersecurity expert below
Denver7 has received several emails from parents and staff who allege the district was hacked. Experts with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) told Denver7 that school districts are particularly vulnerable to suspicious activity and hacking.
“They are target-rich and they're resource-challenged, and what we mean by that is they've got a tremendous amount of data that these cyber criminals, these data brokers would like to have a crack at, and then a lot of times, we just don't have the cyber defenses at all of the schools to be able to shore that up,’ said Joe O’Keefe, deputy regional director at CISA Region 8.
Just a few days prior, a nationwide data breach impacted PowerSchool, compromising information at several school districts in Colorado, according to emails sent to parents from the districts.
CISA advises using strong passwords, setting up two-factor authentication, and monitoring your and your children’s credit if you ever suspect your information has been leaked.
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