The Miami-Dade public school system announced an arrest for a cyber attack that’s been disrupting remote learning for the entire district since classes began on Monday:
Arrest Made in Cyber Attacks Against @MDCPS https://t.co/HIKR6CgBt5
— Miami-Dade Schools (@MDCPS) September 3, 2020
The criminal mastermind? A 16-year-old HS student in Miami:
Statement from Miami-Dade schools:
“Early this morning, Miami-Dade Schools Police (M-DSPD) made an arrest related to the cyber-attacks that have maliciously disrupted teaching and learning since school began on Monday.”(via @NBCNews) pic.twitter.com/6GMaAF7Oi8
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) September 3, 2020
Apparently, he’s admitted it already:
The student admitted to orchestrating eight Distributed Denial-of-Service cyber attacks, designed to overwhelm District networks, including web-based systems needed for My School Online. The student used an online application to carry out these attacks and has been charged with Computer Use in an Attempt to Defraud – a 3rd degree felony, and Interference with an Educational Institution – a 2nd degree misdemeanor.
The district had been experiencing widespread outages since classes began on Monday, much to the frustration of parents, students and the district:
Please read this important message from @MDCPS. pic.twitter.com/LW36XjZgkn
— Miami-Dade Schools (@MDCPS) September 2, 2020
The district was widely mocked for the “Banana Dog” error pages students and teachers received when they couldn’t log in:
Why does everyone hate #BananaDog? https://t.co/NhUTtaLyxP
— Miami New Times (@MiamiNewTimes) September 2, 2020
Here’s what parents and students experienced:
I really could not love this more! ?We all need some humor through the disruptive chaos. Our household experience with #BananaDog this morning. ?#distancelearning #daytwo What the superintendent had to say today via @HatzelVelaWPLG @WPLGLocal10: https://t.co/V7svcECHxm https://t.co/i6jDF8Mk3f pic.twitter.com/JhTVHuFeEl
— Christina Vazquez (@CBoomerVazquez) September 1, 2020
Imagine with everything else going on, the district thought this would be ok?
I’m gonna lose my shit if the first thing I see tomorrow morning is #BananaDog
— Kiara ??? (@dinosaurnugg3t) September 2, 2020
Exit question: Was this kid pretty good at all this or was the Miami-Dade system really, really bad?
A tale of hacking, distance learning and the 4th largest school district in the U.S.?
via @Colleen_Wright https://t.co/Vw5dXbqVUt
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) September 3, 2020
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