Cyberattack forces Albuquerque schools to close

All of the over 100 elementary, middle, high and charter schools in the Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) district have been closed due to a cyberattack affecting the schools' daily operations.

Serving over 85,000 students, the district announced the closure of all buildings on Thursday, January 13 as they work to resolve the attack, which compromised the schools' student information system. APS staff discovered the attack Wednesday morning, as teachers experienced issues during system login attempts. According to a statement released by APS, the attack rendered the school attendance system inoperable, hindering APS' emergency communications protocol.

The district did not comment on whether student or employee personal identifiable information (PII) was compromised. APS Superintendent Scott Elder said that the district is working with local and national law enforcement and a third-party cybersecurity firm to mitigate the ongoing cyberattack.

Madeline Lauver joined Security magazine in 2021 as its Assistant Editor. She covers news affecting enterprise security leaders, including physical security, cybersecurity, leadership and management, risk and resilience and more. Within her role at Security, Lauver focuses on news articles, Web Exclusives, features, and several departments for Security’s monthly digital edition, as well as managing social media and multimedia content. Lauver graduated in 2019 with a BA in English, German and Media Studies from Kalamazoo College.

Service reliability underpins every modern business. Without reliable services, organizations cannot build the trust required to keep their customers loyal or free up time to focus on product innovation and differentiation.