5/8/24
Thank you again for your understanding and patience as the district continues to address the issues associated with a recent cyberattack. We are making progress toward fully restoring our operational and learning resources. Today, our teachers and staff connected school devices to the network. We are working diligently with third-party cybersecurity investigators to determine this event's full nature and scope. The investigation remains ongoing, so we do not have information regarding impacted data. If it is determined that sensitive, personal information was affected during the event, we will notify individuals directly as required by law. Additional updates will be shared as more information becomes available. We are grateful to our entire team for working to ensure the best possible learning environment for our students. Thank you to our One Dawson Community for your ongoing support!
Thank you again for your understanding and flexibility as the district continues to address the issues associated with a recent cyberattack. Today, our technology team worked with schools to soft launch students' devices onto the network. The district plans to resume GMAS testing on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Students utilizing Edgenuity (HTA and online) are operational. Our team is working diligently to safely return all devices and resources to our network. We are making progress!
As we shared yesterday, it remains too early in the investigation to know whether there was a risk to any data stored in our network. If sensitive personal information was impacted during the event, we will notify individuals directly as required by law. Additional updates will be shared as more information becomes available via the district website under the "Network Outage" icon on the main page
5/3/24
The Dawson County School District is pleased to report that today was another successful day of school operations and learning. Thank you again for your understanding and patience as the district investigates the cyberattack that occurred earlier this week. The district has deployed 24/7 monitoring software into our technology environment, plans to do a soft launch of student devices back onto the network on Monday, and is making progress toward fully restoring operational and learning resources. As we shared yesterday, it remains too early in the investigation to know whether there was a risk to any data stored in our network. If sensitive personal information was impacted during the event, we will notify individuals directly as required by law.
As a reminder, the district plans to resume GMAS testing the week of May 6, 2024. Each school will provide an updated schedule. Additional updates will be shared as more information becomes available via the district website under the "Network Outage" icon on the main page.
5/2/24 Update:
The Dawson County School District is pleased to report that today was another successful day of school operations and learning at each of the seven schools despite the disruptions to internet connectivity. Thank you for your understanding as we adjust our daily routines to ensure continuous learning for students. As an update, Dawson County Schools was alerted to suspicious activity on its network earlier this week. The district immediately activated its Cyber Incident Response Plan, Continuity of Operations Plan, and alerted appropriate authorities. Additionally, third-party cybersecurity investigators are being utilized to confirm the nature, source, scope, and potential impacts of the event. It has been determined that the outage resulted from a cyber attack on our network. Thanks to quick action by the district’s technology team, we were able to keep the incident from becoming more widespread within our network. Because the investigation has just started, we do not know whether any information stored in our network was at risk. We are in the process of deploying a 24/7 monitoring software into our system, which will allow us to safely bring our network back online. We are making progress toward restoring full access to all resources for staff and students. The district plans to resume GMAS testing the week of May 6, 2024. Each school will provide an updated schedule. Additional updates will be shared as more information becomes available via the district website under the “Network Outage” icon on the main page.
5/1/24 Dawson County Schools Network Outage Update:
As we reported yesterday, the Dawson County School District has experienced a network outage. The issue remains ongoing. We have engaged outside experts to resolve the issue and help restore our systems. As a precaution, access to the DCS network has been restricted. However, all safety measures in every school remain in place. Despite disruption to the internet service, schools will operate on a regular schedule. GMAS testing has been postponed until the connectivity issues have been resolved. At the time of this update, phone lines are back up and running at all schools and district offices. Updates will be shared as more information becomes available via the district website under the “Network Outage” icon on the main page. Thank you for your support and patience as we work through this issue.