In the wake of its devastating malware attack, Houston County Schools contracts with
ControlAltProtect for cutting-edge criminal hacking detection.
In July 2019, one week from the start of a new school year, Alabama’s Houston County Schools fell victim to a malicious malware attack that brought down its network and more than 4,000 computers. The attack impacted every school in the district and delayed the beginning of the school year several days, creating a crisis within the school system and confusion among students and parents. In the wake of this attack, teachers and administrators were forced to revert to manual processes that derailed lesson plans, schedules, and programs. Even after opening its doors to students, the school system’s recovery continued for several weeks.
“A cyber war is being waged against our most vulnerable systems, and in this case, compromising students’ education,” said Brent Panell, CEO of ControlAltProtect. “Alabama schools are prime targets for sophisticated hacking groups.”
ControlAltProtect is a worldwide forensic cyber security firm that provides customized, industry-leading cyber detection services. It is among the nation’s elite for Red/Blue team engagements and specializes in performing audits and analysis to identify and address security weaknesses, monitoring and testing to identify potential threats, and providing resources and training to help organizations spot threats and be proactive about cyber security.
“Reaching out to help Houston County Schools was not about profitability for us,” said Hans Lemons, ControlAltProtect’s Chief Technology Officer. “It’s about defending and creating awareness for our entire state. Unless we proactively take steps to defend our public school networks, more Alabama schools will certainly fall victim.”
Panell and Lemons are Alabama natives. When they found out about the attack in their home state, they acted quickly, pledging ControlAltProtect’s services to help respond to the crisis and protect the school system. Panell met several times with the Houston County School Board and proposed a deeply discounted cyber security program with a multi-pronged approach. In October 2019, the Houston County School Board approved the proposal, and ControlAltProtect went to work by deploying a comprehensive cyber detection program which identifies vulnerabilities. In 2020, Houston County is leading the charge to fight back against future criminal attacks and focusing on associate training within the school district.
“After the attack, we evaluated potential Cyber Security partners for several weeks, and we were cautious not to move too quickly,” said Bob Blalock, Technology Director at the Houston County Board of Education. “We went with ControlAltProtect because they laid out the most comprehensive, in-depth program for us. We have a lot of work to do, and working with them has been very good. They’re thorough, cooperative, and have bent over backwards to make sure we’ve been taken care of since we started.”
“We’ve developed and integrated layer upon layer of defense and detection products which enable us to zero in on hacking persistence,” Zach Johnson, ControlAltProtect’s Operations Director, said. “When a hacker arrives, we are there to greet them and usually without their detection.” “This is a passion project for our firm,” Panell said. “We discussed this as a company before making any calls or offers to Houston County. We stepped into this arena knowing the challenges that await. Every member of our team is committed to doing everything possible for our schools.”
The Houston County Schools cyber-attack is one of several similar attacks affecting US school systems in 2019. School systems in Louisiana, Washington and Arizona have also fallen victim to cyber crime schemes. FBI projections anticipate a dramatic increase in cyber crime in 2020, particularly in ransomware and phishing attempts.