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Crown Point Schools Cancel Classes After Cyber Incident

An Indiana school district canceled classes Monday and is working with a third-party cybersecurity company to investigate an intrusion last week that compromised its network and left parts of it malfunctioning.

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(TNS) — Crown Point Community School Corp. canceled classes for students Monday after learning its network "may have been compromised" during a network outage last week.

Superintendent Todd Terrill wrote in a letter to parents Saturday that the district was slowly restoring some parts of its network but was not back to normal yet.

Classes for students were canceled Monday to help staff "better prepare for teaching and operating with limited access to the network this week," the letter said.

The district said it confirmed its network may have been compromised while conducting an investigation of the outage with a third-party cybersecurity company.

"The investigation is still ongoing, but we did not want to wait any longer to share this information with you," the letter stated.

Students will not report to school Monday, and it will not be an e-learning day.

All staff members, including support staff, will report to their buildings, the district said.

Child care will be available Monday at Solon Robinson and Jerry Ross elementary schools.

The district said it would issue another update for parents Monday afternoon regarding plans to reopen to students Tuesday.

The district said it did not have a timeline yet for restoration of its network.

Email servers were not yet restored, so apps such as ParentSquare, Remind and ClassDojo should be used for communication for now, the district said.

Web-based platforms such as Buzz were still available to students.

The district's entry system was working, so all outside doors were expected to remain locked, and visitors may enter only through front doors.

Terrill's letter said the district's technology team learned after arriving the morning of Nov. 21 that some parts of the network weren't functioning properly. Staff immediately began an investigation.

When concerns arose about a possible compromise, district staff shut down the remainder of the network and brought in the third-party contractor to help investigation, Terrill said.

"The cybersecurity firm will provide details regarding whether personal information was compromised," he wrote. "Once this information is available, we will share it will staff and families. We know it is frustrating to not have an answer to this, and we apologize that we cannot provide one at this time."

Terrill said the district notified parents as soon as factual information was available.

"Despite technology's speed, these investigations can take weeks to complete," he wrote. "We did not want to send any messages based on speculation or best guesses."

Terrill said district information technology staff and the cybersecurity firm worked around the clock, including Thanksgiving.

"We will all need to be patient and show each other grace while we work through having limited access," Terrill wrote. "We ask teachers, parents and students to be flexible about makeup work and pacing of instruction as well as daily operations."

Parents with questions may submit questions via a form at cps.k12.in.us/techupdate. The district planned to provide updates to parents via email.

©2022 The Times (Munster, Ind.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.