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Idaho students get clean computers month after cyberattack

Posted at 11:21 AM, Sep 20, 2019
and last updated 2019-09-20 13:21:50-04

NAMPA, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho school district has distributed computers to students a month after a department-wide cyberattack wiped out the district’s network, officials said.

Nampa School District officials finished giving out re-imaged laptops to middle school students after high school students were equipped with unaffected devices last week, The Idaho Press reported Thursday. The district distributed usable computers to staff members in August.

The cyberattack on Aug. 21 came just two days after the school year began, disabling the district’s entire computer network. With more than 14,000 students, the Nampa School District is one of the largest in the state.

“Our top priority is to get everything back up and running,” district spokeswoman Kathleen Tuck said.

The district has not been able to determine the source of the attack or how much the recovery will cost, she said.

Some parents are frustrated because there has not been as much communication about back-end issues since the attack first occurred, Tuck said. It could take up to six weeks to update everything from students’ lunch balances to grades on the online PowerSchool system.

“I feel like I’m being stonewalled everywhere,” said Nathan Stansell, the father of a Columbia High School freshman.

Stansell has emailed Tuck for more information, but that did not result in any answers, Stansell said.

Tuck responded to him with everything the district knows, but she said the district doesn’t know what happened yet.