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Schools
In a letter to families, Freehold Twp. school superintendent confirms "initial restoration" of services after cyber security breach Sunday.
Pat McDaniel, Patch Staff
Pat McDaniel, Patch Staff
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FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP, NJ — After a cyber security breach closed schools on Monday, the district has "initial restoration" of services, Superintendent of Schools Neal Dickstein confirmed in an update to township families.
Dickstein said Tuesday access to technology has improved, with students and teachers able to use Chromebooks. Staff can now send and receive email, he said Tuesday.
He also said that before-school and after-school activities will resume on Wednesday.
Find out what's happening in Freeholdwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
There had been limits on the technology available at school, even as the K-8 district reopened schools on Tuesday. The district was able to open school, but cancelled before-school and after-school activities for Tuesday.
Board of Education President Michael Amoroso said the district was able to correct the situation quickly:
Find out what's happening in Freeholdwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
"I am very proud of our team of administrators here in Freehold Township Schools for how quickly they were able to contain and remediate this situation. It is never an easy decision to close schools, but we will always err on the side of caution ahead of anything when it comes to our students," Amoroso said.
"I also want to say thank you to all of the parents and grandparents and friends that stepped in to help with the last minute closing of schools. We understand how difficult it is to make last minute arrangements and appreciate how professional and cooperative our family and staff have been.
"We live in a new era of technology and must navigate carefully through these incidents if and when they occur," he added.
There was no additional information shared by the district at this time about the cause of the breach or other technical details.
Dickstein said the the breach had "disrupted access to several essential network systems crucial for daily operations."
Given that, he said: "Our immediate and unwavering priority has been to assess the impact, identify the root causes and implement measures to fully remediate and restore operations."
"When we first identified the issue, the district immediately took steps to contain the incident and engaged an independent cybersecurity firm to assist in an investigation to determine the nature and scope of the occurrence. Our IT staff, in partnership with independent experts, has been working diligently to restore operations," he said.
He also thanked the community for its patience:
"I want to express my sincere gratitude for your patience and understanding as we navigate through the impact of a recent cybersecurity incident on our district's network," he said.
And he added that, "understanding you may have questions, please rest assured we will be sharing additional information regarding the cyber incident as more information becomes available. Our current focus is on getting our students and staff back in class and resuming normal classroom activities."
And he said the district remains "committed to providing updates as needed and ensuring the security and integrity of our network moving forward."
The affected district is the elementary district. Freehold Township High School is part of the Freehold Regional High School District and was not affected.
The Freehold Township school district has eight schools - five elementary schools, two middle school and an early childhood learning center. It serves nearly 3,500 students.
School cyber attacks increasing
According to a Government Accountability Office study, in recent years, cyberattacks on K-12 schools have increased, disrupting educational instruction and school operations.
"The scale and number of attacks increased during COVID-19 as more schools moved to remote learning and increased their reliance on IT services," the study said.
The attacks peaked in 2020, and in 2021 decreased to a reported at 647,000, the report said.
The disruption in learning - let alone the hacking of personal information - is a major concern for government officials, the report said.
The government's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) put out a report in January of 2023 on this topic, along with recommendations for districts.
Among its recommendations was that "Cybersecurity risk management must be elevated as a top priority for administrators, superintendents, and other leaders at every K–12 institution."
Upcoming announcements
Meanwhile, the school board put out a notice that its board retreat meeting scheduled for Jan. 31 has been cancelled.
The next Board Of Education meeting is Feb. 6, according to the district website, at the Barkalow Middle School at 7 p.m. The board agenda can be found here the Friday evening prior to the meeting.
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