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The district's servers went down Friday and an assessment by an outside security company determined the cause to be a ransomware attack. The party responsible is not believed to be associated with the Livingston community or its public schools.
Livingston officials said data, such as transcripts, is not typically stolen or altered in such attacks. Instead, the computers are rendered inoperable. The party responsible for the attack usually demands a cash payment in order to make the computers accessible once again.
Ransomware attacks against municipal governments, school districts and other public entities are on the rise. Last year, authorities said Iranian hackers sealed off the city of Newark's computers until Newark paid $30,000. The ransom is usually paid in virtual currency like Bitcoin.
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