{"id":58292,"date":"2017-11-17T10:43:26","date_gmt":"2017-11-17T16:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=58292"},"modified":"2017-11-17T10:43:26","modified_gmt":"2017-11-17T16:43:26","slug":"illinois-high-school-ransomware-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/illinois-high-school-ransomware-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois High School Victim of Targeted Ransomware Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

J. Sterling Morton High School Targeted Victim of Ransomware<\/h3>\n

J. Sterling Morton High School, located in Cicero, Illinois has been the victim of a targeted ransomware attack.\u00a0 The ransomware is being delivered through a student survey specifically designed for J. Sterling Morton high school students.\u00a0 As seen below, the survey is poorly designed, but students can still fill it out.\u00a0 According to BleepingComputer<\/a>, after entering an email address, password, and selecting a grade, the student receives a ransomware note stating their files have been encrypted and they must pay $10 USD for their files to be released.\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

Picture: BleepingComputer<\/em><\/p>\n

Despite what the ransomware note says, the files are not being encrypted, as the ransomware is still in development.\u00a0 Although because the files are not encrypted now, does not mean they will not be able to encrypt them in future attacks.\u00a0 The school has been notified of the potential threat, as well as how to remove the ransomware from computers to retrieve the files again.\u00a0 However, these directions will not be relevant once the files are encrypted.<\/p>\n

Other Ransomware Attacks<\/h3>\n

To see a full list of ransomware attacks that have taken place this year, you can click here<\/a>. We have also created a ransomware map, see below, of the ransomware attacks that have taken place in the U.S.
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