Police: Student Launched Cyberattack On Shelton Schools' Computer System

SHELTON, Conn. -- A former Shelton High School student was arrested on Thursday, Dec. 29, on charges of hacking into the computer system for the city's schools, police said.

A former Shelton High School student was arrested on Thursday, Dec. 29, for hacking into the school system's computer system.
Photo Credit: *Skip Pearlman*

Sandra Diamond Fox

12/29/2016 8:30 p.m.

The student, who is an underage juvenile, was charged with third-degree computer crimes, police said.

The arrest stems from incidents in which the Shelton School District's Internet service was disabled citywide during November and December 2015 and March and April 2016.

A Shelton police investigation determined the juvenile was using a cellphone application to launch Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks on a daily basis against the school's Internet service, police said.

DDOS attacks send information rapidly to a server using its IP address and overwhelming the server, police said. The end result is a loss of connection to the Internet, police said.

The school's Internet has since been fully restored and defense software has been installed to deter future attacks, police said.

The juvenile was held in detention and scheduled to appear in Juvenile Court on Friday, Dec. 30.

The juvenile was not identified due to their age.

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