The Lowell Public Schools are operating without internet today, the result of what is being termed a “possible data breach” that occurred Tuesday evening.
Word began to filter out when Superintendent of Schools Liam Skinner notified School Committee members a little after 8pm:
Shortly thereafter, a text was sent to staff informing them that the internet was down. At about 6:45am this morning, another text was sent to staff updating the lack of available internet.
“Investigation is ongoing,” said LPS Community Outreach Strategist Jen Myers when reached for comment by InsideLowell. “It is unclear at this time whether any data was breached or if security measures in place prevented it. That’s all we know at this point.”
While the city’s systems do not appear to be affected by the potential breach, Manager Tom Golden tells us “the MUNIS system was shut down late last night out of an abundance of caution. We are now bringing MUNIS back online.”
The City of Lowell was the victim of a cyberattack last April, which caused serious disruptions to City Hall and other functions. While most services have been restored, Lowell Police are still operating without computer access in their police vehicles.
However, despite early concerns and subsequent threats from the ransomware group claiming responsibility for that attack, fears that the personal data of employees or people doing business with the city being widely disseminated throughout the dark web didn’t materialize.
