Cyber Security Threat Summary:
“Des Moines Public Schools, Iowa's largest school district, confirmed today that a ransomware attack was behind an incident that forced it to take all networked systems offline on January 9, 2023. While the school district also received a ransom demand following the attack from an unnamed ransomware group, the ransom has not been paid. Almost 6,700 individuals whose data was affected in the resulting data breach will be contacted this week with details regarding what personal information was exposed” (Bleeping Computer, 2023).

After the attack took place, the school district quickly took down its internet and network services as a way to contain the impact. To further conduct its investigation, the district also canceled classes for several days, starting January 10, until its systems were up and running again.

“As a precautionary measure, potentially impacted individuals are being offered complimentary credit monitoring services. The letter also includes information for recipients on how they can place a fraud alert on their credit file, place a security freeze on their credit file, and obtain a free credit report,” noted the school district.

Security Officer Comments:
As of writing, it is unclear what type of data was stolen. However, given that sensitive data may have been compromised and that no ransom has been paid so far, the threat actors will most likely publish the data online on their data leak site. Given that this site is available to the public, other cybercriminals may use the data to conduct social engineering, identity theft, and targeted phishing attacks. As such, impacted users should be on the lookout for phishing emails and monitor their financials closely.

Suggested Correction(s):
Backup your data, system images, and configurations, regularly test them, and keep the backups offline: Ensure that backups are regularly tested and that they are not connected to the business network, as many ransomware variants try to find and encrypt or delete accessible backups. Maintaining current backups offline is critical because if your network data is encrypted with ransomware, your organization can restore systems.

Update and patch systems promptly: This includes maintaining the security of operating systems, applications, and firmware in a timely manner. Consider using a centralized patch management system; use a risk- based assessment strategy to drive your patch management program.

Test your incident response plan: There's nothing that shows the gaps in plans more than testing them. Run through some core questions and use those to build an incident response plan: Are you able to sustain business operations without access to certain systems? For how long? Would you turn off your manufacturing operations if business systems such as billing were offline?

Check Your Security Team's Work: Use a 3rd party pen tester to test the security of your systems and your ability to defend against a sophisticated attack. Many ransomware criminals are aggressive and sophisticated and will find the equivalent of unlocked doors.

Segment your networks: There's been a recent shift in ransomware attacks – from stealing data to disrupting operations. It's critically important that your corporate business functions and manufacturing/production operations are separated and that you carefully filter and limit internet access to operational networks, identify links between these networks and develop workarounds or manual controls to ensure ICS networks can be isolated and continue operating if your corporate network is compromised. Regularly test contingency plans such as manual controls so that safety critical functions can be maintained during a cyber incident.

Train employees: Email remains the most vulnerable attack vector for organizations. Users should be trained how to avoid and spot phishing emails. Multi Factor authentication can help prevent malicious access to sensitive services.

Link(s):
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/