Officials with the Columbia County school system announced technical difficulties that caused a disruption to certain computer operating systems. They are working diligently to fix the problems and investigate the possible cause of the disruption.
A statement was released advising staff that most of the disruptions were minor, and added that the system is working around the clock on the problems.
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“We are working to restore all systems in a safe and secure manner, as quickly as possible. Due to processes already in place, the school district’s response to these difficulties moved quickly and with little to no interruption to school operations and minimal impacts within supporting departments,” the statement reads.
According to Superintendent Steven Flynt, the problem first began with WiFi outages. Then technical issues began to surface at district level offices.
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Flynt said while there is currently no evidence of hacking, the school system is being cautious and has brought in a third party firm to investigate the matter.
“We always have to be cautious because other school systems have been compromised in the past and had to pay money to retrieve their data,” Flynt said.
According to Flynt, there is no evidence that any personal or financial data has been compromised. However, the school system will continue to investigate.
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Flynt has been on the job as superintendent for just over a month and said that the alert was sent out by his direction to ensure transparency on the part of his administration.
“I learned long ago it is better to acknowledge a problem. There probably is nothing to this, but we are taking it seriously,” Flynt said.
Scott Hudson is the Managing Editor of The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com.
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