Broken Arrow Public Schools confirmed late Thursday the district is the victim of a ransomware attack.
The district posted the following statement from Superintendent Janet Dunlop:
Broken Arrow Public Schools has recently been experiencing network and server issues which are believed to be caused by criminal actors attempting to disrupt the operations of our district.
Immediately upon becoming aware of the issues, we began taking steps to investigate the situation and notified our cyber insurance carrier. The Board of Education voted to enter into agreements with leading cybersecurity experts to assist us with the investigation and recovery efforts and to enhance the security of our digital environment.
The experts have confirmed we have been the victim of a ransomware attack. Ransomware is a type of malicious software designed to deny access to a computer system or data until a ransom is paid. We have no plans to pay the ransom.
Broken Arrow Public Schools places the utmost importance on our network and system security, and district technology experts have been working diligently with vendors to restore normal operations as soon as possible. At this time, we are not aware of any unauthorized disclosure of student personal data or financial information.
We have also notified the FBI of this incident and will provide whatever cooperation is necessary to hold the wrongdoers accountable.
We appreciate your patience during this period.
The school year is still scheduled to start on Wednesday, Aug. 21. (Pre-K Aug. 23). Schedule pickups for students will be held as planned. Bus route information will be available on Aug. 16.
District officials did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.