At least one student was able to bring down an entire school district. A student at a Miami, Florida school has been arrested in connection with a cyberattack that crippled the district’s virtual learning system. Schools in Miami-Dade just resumed virtually Monday, but within minutes of opening, the system crashed. Today, Miami-Dade Public School announced the arrest of the 16-year-old South Miami Senior High School student.
In an investigation that included the FBI and Secret Service, Miami-Dade School Police were reportedly able to trace the IP address to the student. According to a statement from the school district:
The student admitted to orchestrating eight Distributed Denial-of-Service cyber attacks, designed to overwhelm District networks, including web-based systems needed for My School Online. The student used an online application to carry out these attacks and has been charged with Computer Use in an Attempt to Defraud – a 3rd degree felony, and Interference with an Educational Institution – a 2nd degree misdemeanor.
Superintendent of Schools Alberto Carvalho adds:
It is disheartening that one of our own students has admitted to intentionally causing this kind of disruption, however, I am confident that the M-DCPS family will continue to show its resilience and commitment to education, in the face of adversity.”
Authorities believe he didn’t work alone. Miami-Dade Schools Chief of Police, Edwin Lopez said:
“We believe, based upon our investigation, that other attackers are out there. We will not rest until every one of them is caught and brought to justice. Cyber attacks are serious crimes, which have far-reaching negative impacts. Our message to anyone thinking of attempting a criminal act like this is to think twice. We will find you.”
Miami attorney Russell Dohan is one of the thousands of parents who helped his daughter, a 7th grader, navigate the virtual crash this week. He says the experience has been a frustrating one, “It’s hard enough that our kids are not physically able to attend school right now, but this has added insult to injury. Now, to hear that a fellow student is to blame is disheartening. We just want this all to be fixed immediately and have a system our children can rely on until they return to campus.”