Gasconade County R-2 officials on April 11 notified district teachers, staff and parents of an attempted cyberattack on its systems that is now under investigation.

“We had a cyberattack on Thursday night (April 10),” said Superintendent Dr. Jeri Kay Hardy. “They weren’t able to breach our data, but we’re still working through it. Our technology department had everything in place that prevented us from being breached.”

Hardy said cyberattacks on school districts are becoming more common, as the education facilities are perceived as having little security with a lot of personal information.

“Here lately it has been common to hack a school,” Hardy said. “There have been some schools around who have had to pay a ransom to get the information back. I think schools have a lot of compromising technology and are seen as easy targets.”

However, the technology department at Gasconade County R-2 employs educated IT professionals who are prepared for potential cyberattacks.

“Our technology department had the foresight to have the security in place and align with security companies to make sure the safety protocols actually worked,” Hardy continued. “I got a phone call a little after 5 p.m. until 8:30 p.m., one of the secure companies that we partnered with was on the phone at the same time, working on the situation.”

Hardy said they could see the attackers attempt to log in to the district’s system from a computer screen.

“We could watch them trying to break into the system,” she said. “It makes you feel like you’re watching your house being broke into.”

Administrators and the technology department arrived at the schools around 6:15 a.m. on April 11 to ensure that the buildings and technology remained secure. They have continued to reopen the system slowly to ascertain information remains secure. Meanwhile, the cyberattack is being investigated at the federal level.

“We were notified by a representative that works with the Department of Homeland Security,” Hardy said. “They and the FBI are both working to figure out where (the attack) originated from.”

She doesn’t believe the people behind the cyberattack with try again, though she emphasizes how important it is to be vigilant and the consequences if they aren’t.

“There is another school not far from here that had to send a letter out earlier this year that they had a data breach,” Hardy said.

With this new threat against school districts, Hardy mentioned there are insurance plans that can be added to the building policy.

“You have to meet a whole lot of qualifications to take that out to prove you’ve been proactive in preventing a cyberattack,” Hardy said. “I appreciate everything Nicole Grannemann (technology director) has done for our technology team and Zackary Gregory has done as our systems specialist. Nicole has an IT degree and Zach has an associates degree in IT.”

Area law enforcement, including Owensville Police Department, Gerald Police Department, Gasconade County Sheriff’s Office and Franklin County Sheriff’s Office provided the district with extra security on Friday while the cyberattack continued to be investigated.

Gasconade County R-2 Schools are closed Thursday, April 17, for a professional development day for teachers. R-2 schools are not in session Friday, April 18, and Monday, April 22, for the Easter break.