Despite Ransomware Attack, Los Angeles Unified Provides Full Day of Instruction (09-06-22)

Despite Ransomware Attack, Los Angeles Unified Provides Full Day of Instruction

District Continues to Expand Operational Capacity, With All Critical Systems Currently Online

Los Angeles, CA (September 6, 2022) – Despite the aftermath of a ransomware attack on Los Angeles Unified’s Information Technology systems over Labor Day weekend, the District resumed normal operations on Tuesday. The decision to resume classes and work was informed by the District’s ability to confirm that our most critical systems were viable. Our student information systems were back up and running within the first two hours of the school day. Additionally, students were transported by buses to school safely, received nutritious meals and learning continued in classrooms.

Password resets were the biggest challenge Los Angeles Unified students and employees faced today. While password reset requests created a bottleneck early this morning, that issue has improved steadily throughout the day, and hotline wait times have decreased to less than six minutes per caller. The District is calling on all employees, students and families to please reset their passwords as soon as possible, following instructions from their supervisors and school administrators. For those who need help, hotline operators are available from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 213-443-1300.

“I want to thank our students, families and employees for doing their part in the ongoing recovery from this weekend’s cyberattack,” Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said. “While all critical systems are now active, it is imperative for our students and employees to reset their passwords to regain access.”

An ongoing investigation involving the District’s partners – the Department of Education, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and local law enforcement – continues.

“Over the past 24 plus hours, we have benefited from the extraordinary level of collaboration and cooperation from our partners, but we would also like to highlight the special collaboration and the rapid deployment of resources to our school system by the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Superintendent Carvalho continued. “We have had no fewer than six special agents and staff helping our school system deal with this incident. We are truly grateful for this unwavering commitment to pursue those responsible for these attacks.”

“Today our preliminary student attendance was 83%, which does not yet include full reporting from across the District,” Superintendent Carvalho said. “If Los Angeles Unified had lost its ability to run school buses, over 40,000 students would not have been able to get to school. If our food services or payroll system had been compromised, the implications both in the lives of students and employees would have been significant. We know today was challenging, but the impact of this incident could have been catastrophic if our teams and partners had not responded quickly and decisively, cut off the hacker's access immediately and worked expeditiously to restore operational capacity.” 

For the most up-to-date information, please follow Los Angeles Unified on Twitter at @laschools and @lausdsup, Instagram at @laschools and @lausdsup and Facebook at @laschools and @AlbertoMCarvalho1.

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