PULASKI, Va. – Pulaski County Public Schools have faced multiple outside disruptions this year.
School threats were made on social media and most recently two cyber attacks.
“Nothing is surprising anymore, just sometimes disappointing and this is one of those things,” said Rob Graham, the superintendent for Pulaski County Public Schools.
Graham said these cyber threats were ransomware attacks meant to steal money from the school.
He said luckily the schools were able to remain open.
“Our backups, for the most part, were secure, and we did not have to shut down operations,” Graham said.
He said the hacker organization’s initial goal was to shut down all school operations until a certain amount of money was paid.
Even though the cyber attack was unsuccessful in shutting school operations down, the attack has caused some headaches for teachers and students.
Graham said this has not stopped them from being in the classroom.
“We’re functioning, probably I would say, at 90 to 95 percent right now,” Graham said.
Graham said they are working to stop future attacks, but his IT department says nothing is foolproof.
“There is always a way to get in and if they can find it, they’ll get in,” Graham said.
Although some equipment was damaged and will need to be replaced, Graham said they are using this as an opportunity to upgrade.
“There’s a really good chance most of that will be reimbursed through our insurance, so we are not really worried about that right now,” Graham said.
Graham said he’s hoping this issue will be resolved in the coming weeks.