Governor Edwards has, for the first time, declared a statewide cybersecurity emergency stemming from ongoing cyber-attacks against three North Louisiana school districts.
At least one of the districts is reporting this is due to a ransomware attack. Such attacks are extremely dangerous, and can completely disable entire networks and render all network files permanently unusable.
This is an opportunity to inform and train employees about the dangers of phishing emails, the source of many such attacks. It is also prudent to review and practice your incident response plan, conduct a review your own cyber-related risks, and review your cyber insurance policy to ensure you have coverage for these events.
If you suspect you may be the subject of such an attack or a data breach, we would encourage you to activate your incident response plan and to immediately engage qualified and experienced professionals to investigate the incident, assist in your response and to protect your investigation to the extent possible from future disclosure.