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B.C. school district hit by ‘cyber incident’ knocking out internet, website

Click to play video: 'High-profile cyberattacks on the rise'
High-profile cyberattacks on the rise
Earlier this month, London Drugs stores reopened after a cyberattack forced their closure for more than a week. As Aaron McArthur reports, this news comes as another high-profile cyberattack is made public, this time on a B.C. health authority – May 22, 2024

A British Columbia school district appears to be the latest victim of a cyberattack in the province.

The Cowichan Valley School District said Tuesday it was investigating a “cyber incident” that had affected some of its systems and operations, including internet services and its website.

Click to play video: 'Cyberattack may have accessed B.C. government emails'
Cyberattack may have accessed B.C. government emails

As of Tuesday evening, the district’s website was offline.

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“At this time, we have no indication that the incident has impacted the personal information of our students and families,” the district said. “We are working diligently, in conjunction with external experts, to investigate and contain the incident.”

The district added that it was working to resume normal operations as soon as possible and that it would provide updates when it could.

The incident comes after the B.C. government and the First Nations Health Authority suffered recent cyberattacks.

Click to play video: 'Cybercriminals release stolen employee data after London Drugs refuses to pay ransom'
Cybercriminals release stolen employee data after London Drugs refuses to pay ransom

The attack targeting the province accessed email accounts and is believed to have been launched by foreign state actors, while the health authority incident appeared to be a ransomware attack.

Major B.C.-based pharmacy and retailer London Drugs also suffered a recent ransomware attack, which saw employee data leaked on the dark web when the company refused to meet the attackers demands for millions of dollars.

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