The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

The Student News Site of Harvard-Westlake School

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

    Computer network shutdown was malicious, school finds

    By Saj Sri-Kumar

    The attack that brought down the school’s computer system on Tuesday, April 26 was malicious, Computer Services has found.

    A denial-of-service attack was performed at around 9:30 a.m., Director of Computer Services Dave Ruben said. The attack was run by one or more computers connected to the Wi-Fi network that was set up for student-owned computers to connect to the internet.

    The Middle School’s computer network was unaffected by the attack.

    To perform a denial-of-service attack, the perpetrator(s) set up software that would overload the school’s servers, causing them to shut down.

    While the network did shut down for approximately two hours, Ruben said that the school’s secured files were not breached, only rendered inaccessible.

    After the attack, the school shut down the Wi-Fi network that provided internet to student-owned computers. Ruben said that he hopes to restart the network once he feels that the school has eliminated the problem.

    Head of Upper School Harry Salamandra said that the school has not found the perpetrator. He said that the school has not decided on what, if any, punishment will be given out if the person responsible for the attack is caught.

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    Computer network shutdown was malicious, school finds