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St. Landry School Board members updated on system restoration after cyber attack

St. Landry School Board member dies suddenly
Posted at 9:24 PM, Feb 01, 2020
and last updated 2020-02-01 22:24:52-05

Weeks after a cyber attack crippled computers within the St. Landry school system, officials were updated on the restoration progress.

The cyber attack was first discovered on January 15; the parish's computer systems were taken offline as a result.

Now, Computer Supervisor Byron Wimberly has told school board members that there will be long-term costs as the parish attempts to recover the remainder of the system. He said that the parish's current staff is too small to handled the increased amount of duties related to cyber systems, according to a report in The Daily World.

Wimberly added that it will be expensive to fund the work done by experts who assisted staff in restoring cyber systems - he estimates security expenses will be no less than $160,000.

He also recommended hiring more personnel for the school system's IT department, something Maintenance Director Claudia Blanchard has been part of a district plan for several years now.

The system is being restored in several phases. No information stored in the district's servers was compromised.

Only online alternative classes within the school system experienced closures.

A temporary site was set up to help students and parents access important links. That site has now been taken down and replaced with a new, permanent site.